


Heroes

by Futakuchi



Series: Heroes [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Epic, Novel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-19 03:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5951749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Futakuchi/pseuds/Futakuchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world or Remnant has grown darker in the past year. After the White Fangs defeat one year ago, the Faunus have become even more violent, and the Grimm increasingly aggressive. Can team RWBY unite to stave off the darkness threatening to consume their world? Or will our heroes be overwhelmed and fall into darkness themselves?</p><p>ON INDEFINITE HIATUS</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heroes; Chapter one - Reunion

Graduation day is not shaping up to be what it should have been. Weiss stood alone amongst the graduands, Standing tall, proud to be accepting her certificate, her license to be a huntress. Ruby watched from the trees beyond the wall, the scope of her rifle trained solely on the snow white hair of her best friend. After having been expelled from Beacon at the end of last year as a result of the war with the White Fang, Ruby has lost her chance to be a huntress. After Ruby’s expulsion, Yang left soon after. She blamed their new team member but to her friends, it was obvious there was a far deeper reason. The entire team had lost their motivation after the war and Ruby’s departure, only Weiss stayed, out of respect for her family. Blake was an entirely different story. After the defeat of the White Fang, Blake decided that the Faunus community needed a figure to look up to, and the Human-Faunus relations were at all time low. She set out to become this symbol, to become hope for the future of her people.  Now Weiss stands alone, the captain of one of the worst teams to ever stumble the halls of Beacon academy, and the only remaining member of the most legendary teams to ever have failed to graduate. 

Ozpin calls team WHTE to the stage and Weiss leads her teammates to the crippled headmaster. The faint echoes of cheers were all that reached Ruby from her perch as Weiss accepted her credentials and shook Ozpin’s hand. Tears flowed like rivers down Ruby’s cheeks, blurring her vision through the scope. The image she had created for herself, since she was just a small child, she had wanted to be a hero, and now she was a failure. She had failed herself, she would never be a huntress, she had failed her team, her friends. But she was Ruby Rose, child prodigy, she just has to work harder, she can reunite her team, her life can be like one of the stories she read as a little girl. If it was possible for anyone it was possible for her. Yet the seed of doubt remained, a dark spot on the horizon of her dreams. 

Weiss was now speaking to her classmates, her face cold, with a strained apathy. Ruby did not need her rifle to see the tears that Weiss had so carefully hidden now slipping past her guard and falling to the floor in waves. Ruby could not console her now, as she had so often done during their school days. Ruby could do nothing but watch, as her best friend was escorted backstage by Glynda. 

It was then that Ruby left. She had spent too long this close to the Academy. After what she had done in the war, after the mistakes she had made, she could no longer be this close to the Academy and feel comfortable. She knew Ozpin would forgive her if she would just talk to him, yet seeing him again would do nothing but confirm the weight of Ruby’s actions. Because of her the most prominent figure in Remnant was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Because of her mistakes, her failures, the White Fang still breathes. The world needs heroes more than ever and Ruby has single handedly guaranteed Ozpin would not be among them. Feeling the tendrils of darkness begin to creep into her mind again, she steered herself towards the cafe where she and Weiss had agreed to meet after the ceremony. 

Halfway through her third cup of tea, Weiss walks through the doors, her eyes a blistering red, in stark contrast against her pale skin and alabaster hair. Weiss stood in the entrance for several minutes before finally spotting Ruby sitting in the back near the fire. She walks over and slumps down into the chair across from Ruby and raises an eyebrow.

“I thought you always wore red” Weiss said “All black doesn’t suit you” Weiss tried to smile at her friend, but only managed a strained grimace. Something seemed off about Ruby, her aura seemed almost imperceptible. Could her control have gotten even better since their last meeting?

“Well, i don’t to be recognized, especially while I’m in the city” Ruby sighed “I’m sure you’ve heard the things people have been saying about me”

“Of course I have, but i never expected you to care this much” Weiss looked curiously at Ruby’s all black outfit. A rough wool shirt and tight black leggings, as well as a cloak and hood that seemed to shimmer and disappear into the darkness behind her. Gone were the skirts, the corsets, the flare that Ruby used to put into her clothing. All of her clothing was built to serve a purpose beyond fashion. Especially the cloak. Weiss furrowed her brow while examining the cloth from across the table.

“Ruby. That cloak, how did you manage to get your hands on something like that? Those are expensive aren’t they?”

“Their expensive if you buy one, I made mine” Ruby replied evasively.

“You made it? How? I’ve known people to train for years before they are even allowed to touch Reaper cloth. How did you manage to do it?”

“Well, this is an interesting story, but I’ll tell you all of it later. The important part is that while I was looking into an rise in Grimm activity around the northern tip of Vacuo. I found an old warehouse in one of the ruined cities there, and there was a stash of this cloth, so I took it with me. After I finished the mission, i spent weeks studying my old red cloak to see how it was made, then I began working on sewing this one in the same way. It took me a while because I would get really nervous about messing up, but after about a month I finished it and wore it on my next mission.” Ruby smiled and took it off to show to Weiss. “See look, it’s lighter than wool, and smoother than silk, although it doesn’t keep you near as warm. I only put it on when I really don’t want to be found, like right now, or when I get a commision.”

“This is incredible, Ruby” Weiss ran her hands through the fabric, this explained the lack of aura when Weiss had arrived. “This is the kind of cloak you’re given when you receive the highest honor for service to Remnant. Even Ozpin doesn’t have one. This cloak, it lets you fade away from sight, it even conceals your aura.” Weiss handed the cloak back “Although if anyone were to have gotten one, other than me of course, you’re the perfect choice”

Ruby’s smile faded and she turned away from Weiss. “You’re wrong Weiss, there are hundreds of people more deserving than me to own something like this. Ozpin, Pyrrha, Jaune, Blake, you, I should be the last person to receive a gift like this”

“Ozpin doesn’t need it anymore, and all those other people can’t lead us like you can, Ruby” Weiss reached across the table and turned Ruby’s head to look into her own.

Ruby jerked her head out of Weiss’ grip “Ozpin doesn’t need this anymore because of what I’ve done to him, and I can’t be a leader, not anymore” Ruby stood “Not since what I did to you and Blake and Yang. All of those things that you suffered, all of your pain was because of me, my mistakes”

Weiss pushed Ruby back down into the chair. “You need to let that go Ruby. We don’t blame you, we never have and we never will. The only person who is mad at you, is you”

Ruby sat for a couple minutes, silent, sullen. She could gather the force to speak again. Weiss was right, the only one who blamed her for her mistakes was herself, however she could not bring herself to face what she had done, nor forgive herself for her shortcomings. Ruby rose from the table once again.

“I should be going. I don’t want Ozpin to find me in the city” Ruby said, with as much force as she could muster. 

“He doesn’t blame you, you know” Weiss stood as well. “If anything he’s been waiting for a chance to talk to you”

“It’s my fault. The way he is now, everything is all my fault, my incompetence, my arrogance” Ruby began to shake. “I let Torchwick live! I lost to Cinder! And because of that the White Fang still breathes”

People began to take notice of Ruby’s yelling “I’ve been running all over Remnant for the past year, researching as much as i can about the White Fang leaders that are still out there. Trying to stop the spread of the Grimm they had began to breed, but I can do nothing” 

“Ruby, you need to calm down people are going to get nervous, if you really don’t want to talk to Ozpin then yelling about the White Fang in a coffee shop is not the way to do things” Weiss rose and grabbed Ruby’s arm. “Now come with me, were going to go meet some people and maybe they can help you” Weiss dragged Ruby from the cafe, throwing some change on the table as she left.

  


Weiss took Ruby to the old ruins of Mountain Glenn. She led Ruby into one of the decrepit buildings along the outskirts, similar to the one they had stayed in, their first mission, with Oobleck. As the two climbed higher into the building they began to hear voices, laughter, the familiarity was soothing to Ruby.

“There you guys are! Man took you long enough we’ve been waiting for hours!” A blond man’s head poked out from around the corner of the stairwell. 

“Jaune?” Ruby asked “Is that you?”

“Of course it’s me! C’mon it’s only been a year, have i changed that much?”

He had, in fact, changed that much. Jaune had been almost unrecognisable after the war ended. While evacuating a comune in the woods, on the outskirts of Vale, he had been the victim of a dust explosion, planned by Torchwick to take out team JNPR. Because of Pyrrha's impact on the war, and her collaboration with Ozpin, JNPR became a prime target for White Fang to eliminate. Ruby heard on her travels that Pyrrha earned her huntress licence early because of this, as well as the extent of Jaune's injuries. Scars stripped his face and bare arms, and his left eye had been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic.  He was missing two fingers on his left hand, and his nose had been pushed to the right by about half an inch. Ruby could not have prepared herself for the shock of seeing Jaune, however despite all the changes, he was still the friend that Ruby had missed so dearly. His shaggy mop of yellow hair remained, as well as his seemingly endless optimism. Jaune had become all that Ruby had aspired to be, a hunter, a hero, a leader worthy of his astounding teammates. 

"Of course it’s Jaune, you dolt" Weiss smiled, a true smile, and Ruby, for the first time since she had left Beacon, smiled with her. For the moment she managed to forget the past. "I told him to meet us here, since he wanted to come with us"

"Come with us...?" Ruby's smile began to fade. "There is no us. I was going to leave tomorrow, I haven't found Torchwick; or Cinder; or the rest of the White Fang;  plus there's all those Grimm and.."

"Ruby, we've all graduated now, or at least most of us, we've decided to come with you" Weiss replied placing her hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"What do you mean most of us" Ruby shrugged off Weiss' hand. "I can't believe you would bring up my expulsion Weiss' that's cold, even for you " The two stood apart, Ruby glaring, Weiss looking over to Jaune.

"ummmm, Ruby, she was talking about me" Jaune laughed nervously. " if anyone should be mad, it’s me not you" Jaune smiled "although I'm not really mad, I didn't graduate, thats all, I won't be able to be a hunter. I guess I'm just like you Ruby, fate decided my path, and I can't change that"

Ruby was stunned. This smiling, blond man, the hero of war, saviour of the people, had not managed to become a hunter? "But how? You're a hero, you saved thousands of lives, how are you not a hunter?" 

"Well, when i was hurt, a lot of the damage was dealt internally. My aura blocked most of the physical damage, but it was a huge explosion, there was no way I could block it all, and I absolutely couldn't save myself from the sheer force of the impact." Jaune sighed, but his smile remained "I tore all the ligaments in my left arm, and my right wrist and my back were broken, and the cartilage in my knees and my nose melted. After my recovery, my body was too weak to continue training at Beacon, much too weak to fight the Grimm, so I stayed at Beacon as a mentor to the newer students. Pyrrha has been trying to heal me, but well, you know, it’s not going very well"

Ruby remained silent for a time while she processed what Jaune had just said. He did not seem to be weak, his spirit remained strong. The very thing that had so crushed her, driven her to depression, has left almost no impact on Jaune at all. It nearly broke her. Jaune was stronger than she could have ever imagined.

"But, if you can't fight, how are expecting to come with Weiss and I?" The words that left Ruby's mouth were very unlike her. She realized at some point in her travels there had been a shift in her personality. She would never had said anything like that to anyone three years ago, and yet here she was, rejecting a friends offer for help. Insulting them. 

Jaune however did not seem to mind Ruby's bitter response. "Don't worry, I've found myself a magnificent bodyguard" Almost as in response, Pyrrha peeked out into the room.

“Hello Ruby, it’s been too long” Pyrrha smiled warmly “A full year, by my estimate”

Ruby burst into a smile when she set eyes on Pyrrha. This day had been a roller coaster of emotions, from crying with Weiss, to joy with Jaune, then jealousy, regret, and joy once again upon seeing Pyrrha, Ruby was feeling quite worn out. There was still so much to learn about her friends, so much had changed in the year she had been gone, and there were still the rumors about Weiss’ condition that Ruby just did not have the heart to bring up in front of Jaune and Pyrrha. 

“There’s our Ruby” Jaune said “Ever since you got here there had been something off about you, you just didn’t have the same energy you used to” Jaune led the group into an adjacent room, furnished with camping mats on the floor, and fire in the middle of the room. “Anyways I’m glad we’ve all had a chance to catch up but we really need to talk about our plans”

Jaune had definitely changed. Whether it was a result of the war, or just growing up, Jaune seemed to have aged ten years in the time Ruby had spent wandering. He seemed more mature now, certainly more in control, and certainly more of a leader than Ruby ever was.

“First of all, we need to decide on a captain. We are a team, just like we were back in school, so it would be fitting to have a captain, just like we errr… did in school” Jaune gave Ruby an apologetic glance at Ruby before continuing. “Since I brought this up I guess I’d like to nominate Ruby to be captain”. Weiss and Pyrrha nodded in approval. 

“Haha you guys are kidding right” Ruby back began to bead with a cold sweat. This was beyond nervousness, this was fear. Her friends have put their faith in her, even after all she had done. This time there could not be failure, failure would cost them much more than an escaped convict.

“No, we are serious Ruby, we discussed this in school before graduation. Out of all of us you have far more experience in Remnant, outside of Beacon, outside of Vale” Pyrrha answered so calmly, Ruby almost began to feel at ease, but the memories came rushing back, Ozpin bleeding, helpless, guarded by Glynda, the faces of Torchwick and Cinder seemed to hover in the darkness around her. “I can’t do it. Jaune should be the captain, or Pyrrha, at least Pyrrha is a huntress”

“Haha, Jaune laughed, trying to bring the atmosphere up from where Ruby had left it. “I far too weak to be a captain, i can barely hold my sword anymore, and Pyrrha will be too distracted trying to keep me alive to worry about you and Weiss.” Jaune laid a hand on Ruby’s shoulder “Before you left, Weiss told me you had lost confidence in yourself. I believe in you Ruby, we all do” He smiled “You were always a better leader than I was anyways, I never even noticed how Pyrrha felt about me for almost a year, and even then she pretty much had to write it down for me” Jaune laughed. “You might have been a little clumsy at times sure, but you were always looking out for your teammates, and always were there for them if they needed you”

“But….” Ruby seemed lost “My entire team almost DIED and it was all my fault.” Tears began to fall from Ruby’s eyes, the whites of her eyes now almost matching the red cloak she used to wear.”I left my team stranded, I went after Torchwick and Cinder alone, all because I wanted to be the hero, the one in the stories who fights the evil and wins, no matter the odds.” She turned away from Jaune “I turned my back on my team. I don’t deserve your faith”

Ruby turned away from them to face the darkness. No one seemed to be able to understand what she was feeling. She could not bear to fail her friends again, to be responsible for their lives and put them at risk. She was crippled, broken by her fear, her uncertainty. Jaune could not understand, as he spent more time at Beacon his confidence grew larger and larger, he never doubted himself, and in return his team would follow whatever decision he made. Ruby could not do that, not anymore. She may have been the one to cripple Ozpin, but the recoil was far more than she could handle.

“Ruby, talk to us” Pyrrha extended a hand towards Ruby, who turned further away. “We could tell that the war had taken its toll on you, but we hopped your time alone would have allowed you to sort yourself out” Pyrrha smiled “We’re here for you, all of us, so please, let us in”

“Pyrrha, I know.” Ruby slowly turned back towards the group. “Believe me, I know, and I’m sorry, but I am not the person I was a year ago. There is a piece of me that was lost in the war, and i don’t think that I will ever find it again” Ruby smiled sadly and wiped the wetness from her face. “I’m afraid, I’ve been afraid for so long now i can’t even remember how it felt before the war. I want more than anything to be with you guys, but I can’t lead you, I can’t trust myself to lead you” 

“Ruby, you ass” Weiss stood up and stalked towards Ruby. Ruby winced at Weiss language, hearing her swear was rare, it only happened when she was too passionate to censor herself. “Wipe those damn tears from your eyes and listen to me” Ruby shrank backwards “We are not offering. You are our leader, we have this decided already. And don’t for a second it is YOUR choice whether or not we place our trust in you. We already have placed our trust in you, whether you like it or not so deal with it.” Weiss motioned towards Jaune and Pyrrha “We all trust you, despite what happened in the war, despite the rumors going around of how you let Torchwick and Cinder escape on purpose. Despite all that, we have decided that you are clearly the best person to be in charge. Just the fact alone that you’re so beaten by your shortcomings is proof that you are perfect to be a captain. You recognize your mistakes, and will stop at nothing to ensure that they never happen again. We’ve all placed our trust in you already, all that’s left is for you to trust yourself.”

After a couple of moments of stunned silence, Ruby began to laugh softly, a soft giggle, growing into a full bodied hysteria. “Weiss, do you remember when we first met?” 

Weiss blushed slightly and sat down “Uhhhh, yes...”

“Do you remember what you did when i was appointed captain of our team? You tried so hard to get Ozpin to make you captain. You were so certain that i could not handle it, but he wouldn’t make the swap, no matter how much you begged him”

Fire sprang up into Weiss’ eyes “I did not BEG, Ruby”

Ruby waved of the correction “Anyways, what happened over the past three years that so completely reversed us, now I’m the one trying to undermine my leadership and you’re trying to get me to believe in myself”

“Do you really not know what happened Ruby?” Weiss raised an eyebrow “You swayed me. After all that time living together, going on missions together, you couldn’t hide everything from me. I saw the work you would put into being the best you could possibly be. You may have lost a piece of yourself in the war, but because it is you, Ruby, I have no doubt in my mind you will be able to bounce back, you just need a reason.”

“Yeah Ruby, we are making you our captain, because you are always the first to help a friend in need, the first into a fight and you are always conscious of how the rest of your team is doing. Sure you made that one mistake, but you are stronger now, and so are we, well maybe not me, but Pyrrha makes up for that” Jaune laughs and smiles at Ruby. “Either way, we have spent too long on this anyways, we need to get our sleep, captain” Jaune walks over to a set of golden mats beside the fire. “C’mon Pyrrha, let’s get to sleep”

“Alright, alright Jaune, I’m coming” Pyrrha walks over and climbs into the pile of mats beside Jaune. Ruby glances over at Weiss and raises an eyebrow. Weiss sighs and rolls her eyes.

“Alright Weiss, let’s get to sleep baby” Ruby winks at Weiss, who promptly smacks Ruby across the face before laying out her own blankets. Ruby smiles while she sets out her own mats, and lies awake for a long time, feeling the sting of Weiss’ hand across her face. Once she was sure Jaune and Pyrrha had fallen asleep, Ruby turned back towards Weiss.

“Weiss are you still awake?” A mumbled groan answered in an affirmative. “I didn’t want to bring this up in front of the others, but I heard a bunch of rumors about you, and I just wanted to let you tell me the facts before I make any assumptions.”

“What rumors did you hear?”

“Well in almost every town i came to in the last six months have all been saying the same thing”

“Get to the point Ruby, what did you hear”

“Well, that you had done something awful, that you had injected dust into your blood. Everyone was calling you a freak of nature, saying that you were no longer human”

“Well I guess they would be correct then” Weiss was silent for several minutes before continuing. “Seven months ago, while mining into a new quarry, my father's company found a new type of dust. It was a type of living dust, it could create and destroy dust at will. After taking samples back to the labs, we found this particular type of dust, did not have a consciousness so to speak, it still had some type of power which we have never seen before. It could create a seemingly endless supply of dust. My father took the few samples and hid them away, if word got out that this type of dust could self replicate, it could cause serious damage, to both the company and the rest of the world.” Weiss paused for a moment “So my father continued to research this new dust in secret. I was one of the few he allowed access to the research, so i helped in whatever small way i could. We found out that this dust, it created dust based off electrical impulses in the atmosphere, similar to the way the brain controls a muscle.”

“Weiss, don’t tell me, you didn’t did you? Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine, i think. When they injected the dust onto my body, the doctors used a needle to put a tiny amount into the base of my brain, and used the rest to lace most of my muscles with trace amounts. As a result, I am longer one hundred percent human I suppose, however, even if the dust in my body cause my DNA to change, my mind is still in control of every function of the dust. It’s not so much a symbiosis as much as it simply is me talking advantage of this new ability given to me. I am lucky that I was born a Schnee, otherwise this new dust type would have just sat in a lab and been experimented on for years on end. I cost me my name but I believe that this advancement is necessary, now more than ever.”

Ruby shook her head “You mean, not only did you implant dust into your body, but you stole the dust sample from your father? I never thought you and your dad really disliked each other, why did you disobey him like this? You could have died, nothing like this has ever been done before”

“Well, i still love my father, and I’m sure he still loves me, we are a family, but he could not allow me access to the company after what I had done. He could have had me arrested, executed even, however the best solution, that would have cause the both of us the least pain was my, excommunication, so to speak. I love him dearly, and I love my sister, but I do not think that they are active enough in trying to protect this world. The world is growing darker, and the Schnee Dust Company wants to help keep our people safe, however they would rather offer others the tools to defend themselves, rather than protect the people themselves. I believe that as our world grows darker, people need to be active in it’s defense, so I gave myself the power to stand on the frontlines of our defense. The world needs my strength Ruby. Just as I need yours. I have this power within my body now, however I do not know what to do with it. The Grimm stand sentry on every border of our world, I do not know where to make my impact, which is why I need you. I need you to guide me Ruby, the world needs a hero Ruby, and no matter how much you deny yourself, I believe you are the one to lead us into a new age. You are the hero we need to lead us all, not just us in this room, but all those with the power to bring light into this world, we need someone to unite under, and I believe that person to be you.”

“We’ll I guess all I can do is hope you’re right and try my best” Ruby rolls back over into her blankets. The darkness around her kept at bay by the dancing flames of the fire. Yet there seemed to be a pressure closing in around her. Suffocating her, there seemed to be an unbelievable pressure coming from out in the black. Perhaps Ruby had always been aware of the changes taking place across Remnant, Grimm becoming more active, and different types of Grimm were being discovered close to daily. Even the older Grimm, those who have been patiently waiting for their chance to strike back at the humans have become more aggressive. The world was changing, the era of peace ushered in by Great War was coming to an end. Remnant needs defenders, men and women to stand and fight for their lives, and, of course, a captain, a hero to usher in the new age.

  


****************

  


Yang Xiao-Long stepped off the swaying deck of a merchant ship. She had meant to arrive the day before, to see Weiss graduate, however she had run into trouble with pirates while sailing back from the eastern lands. She stepped back onto dry land for the first time in weeks her violet peering into the darkness, watching, waiting.

“You’re late you know, kind of rude to leave me waiting like this”

Yang laughed “Oh shut up Sun, like you’ve ever been a stickler for punctuality.” Yang reached into the darkness as she walked past an alleyway and yanked out the monkey Faunus by the ear.

“Hey! how did you know I was there? I was being as quiet as possible, I projected my voice, I even concealed my aura…” Sun’s look of confusion made Yang smile.

“The dark can’t keep anything secret from me, not anymore. I trained with the shamans south of Mistral, I meditated with the monks in the mountain temples, I’ve studied with the scholars in their golden halls, I’ve become strong enough to set foot in Vale and face Ruby, of course I can see your scrawny ass hiding in an alley.” Yang smiled at Sun, and for a split second her hair turned to flame, and her eyes flashed red.

“Those things don’t sound very Yang-like you know” Sun looked a little disappointed in the account of Yang’s activities.

Yang smiled wider “Well.. I drank a hell of a lot too”

Sun returned her smile “That sounds more like it, now c’mon, Ruby and Weiss left for Glenn hours ago, we have to hurry if we want any chance of finding them tomorrow.”

“All right boss, lead the way”


	2. Heroes; Chapter two- Family

  


The sun rose cold and bleak over the decrepit buildings surrounding Ruby’s party. As the shadows were slowly pushed back inch by inch, Ruby rose from her slumber equally as lethargic. Pyrrha was already awake and heating water over a rejuvenated fire, Jaune off in the back unpacking some food he had taken from the city before he’d departed. Weiss was nowhere to be found. Ruby carefully folded her Reaper cloak and placed it in her bag, then pulled out a thick black wool cloak which she promptly draped across her shoulders. The more time that passed since the war, the colder the days became. It was summer now, and yet the day felt like late autumn. Only after Pyrrha had offered a Ruby a cup of coffee did Ruby truly begin to take in her surroundings.

By the time she and Weiss had arrived in Glenn, it had been far too dark to see much of where she was. Now that day had broken and light poured in through the broken walls surrounding her, Ruby could see many things previously concealed in the safety of the night. Claw marks streaked the walls, territorial markings by the Grimm that populate the ruined city. A broken desk stood off in the corner of the room, it’s legs broken and bent and drawers missing. A staircase ran to another floor to the left of Ruby’s bed, the doorway she and Weiss had entered last night stood across the room to her right. There were three holes in the wall directly across from her which she could fit through, and one on the wall to her left. If Ruby had been alone in the night, she would not have stayed in this room, the Grimm would patrol in the night and have found her sleeping. Even if Ruby had realized the presence of the Grimm approaching, her only escape would have been to go up or jump out, and neither would have allowed her to depart without alerting the Grimm to her presence. She wondered who had made the choice of staying in a place like this. 

“Pyrrha, where’s W..”

“Upstairs, training with the new Myrtenaster, you can go watch if you like, I know how much you like weapons” Pyrrha smiled at Ruby, however her eyes did not match the tone of her lips.

“So you know about the whole dust thing then” Ruby returned the smile but could not help but feel uneasy about the look Pyrrha was giving Ruby. It was like she was afraid of something could not allow herself to speak out. Ruby had a distinct feeling what she was afraid of was Weiss, whose soft footfalls she could now hear tapping the ceiling above her. Clearly Weiss had sacrificed more than her name for the power she now possessed, even her friends felt uncomfortable in the presence of Weiss’ unnatural existence. 

“Yes, the... dust” Pyrrha turned away and began fussing about the fire. “If truth be told, I think that this is a good thing, Weiss’ will need this power if things keep on the same path” Pyrrha turned back to Ruby, the fear in her eyes replaced with sadness “I just feel that what she’s done to herself, what she’s become, it is not natural for humans to exist as she does. I’m afraid there will be consequences to her action that none of us can anticipate. I don’t want to lose her Ruby, she is one of humanity's greatest allies, and one of my most important friends” Pyrrha began to grab some food from her bag and prepare it to be cooked over the fire. “She will be training for a little longer, you can go watch if you like, I will have breakfast ready in fifteen minutes”

Ruby nodded, and left Pyrrha to her own tasks. She could feel Pyrrha’s concerned eyes on her back as she made her way to the stairway. Ruby began to feel nervous, uncertain of what she will find on the floor above. Will it be Weiss, or something new entirely, something unnatural, inhuman, terrifying.

When Ruby entered the room where Weiss was training the first thing she noticed was the smell. It was the same smell that came when she fired her own Crescent Rose, the same smell that came from a dust explosion. Like a mixture of smoke and sulfur gas. This observation was followed by the shocking appearance of Weiss herself. Brilliantly white dust crystals had sprouted from the base of her skull and extended down Weiss’ bare back, like the ridges that grow down the spine of some species of Grimm. Blood flowed from the base of the crystals, as well as many wounds down her arms and across her chest, however Weiss did not seem to care. Weiss was stunning, as Ruby watched she could fully appreciate the fluidity of Weiss’ movement, and the precision with which she moved. Her Myrtenaster looked like an extension of her arm, less like a weapon and more a organism itself. As Ruby watched, enraptured with Weiss’, topless, deadly dance she realized that Myrtenaster was in fact molding itself as Weiss trained. The blade itself was fluid, going from short to long in moments and with explosive power. Ruby sat in the doorway and watched, the beauty of Weiss’ movements made it hard for Ruby to breathe. She sat in stunned silence as Weiss slowly wound down her movements until she came to a complete stop. 

“I must look a mess” Weiss turned and smiled at Ruby, who broke out of her trance to break into a grin and began clapping furiously. 

“That was INCREDIBLE Weiss, oh my god it’s so cool the way you can control the shape of Myrtenaster and how you move it’s just like OH MY GOD, like wow it’s SO COOL” Ruby was amazed with her friends new power.

“Well I’m glad you like it, I’ve been training alone for the past couple months because everyone’s afraid of me when i’m practicing” Weiss sighed “Even Pyrrha is afraid of me, maybe it’s just the way she was raised, but she can’t accept what I’ve done. She tries her best, but she is afraid of me, afraid of what might become of me.” Weiss grabbed a cloth and began to wipe down her chest “Jaune I understand, after what he’s been through, i would never ask him to be around me when I’m training. When I use dust or generate dust, I produce a smell that is very similar to that of a dust explosion. I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable or panic because of me.” Weiss reaches back and feels one of the crystals sprouting from her spine. “Ruby can you do me a favor? just press that tie that cloth onto my back once I take these off. Ruby grabs the cloth Weiss indicated and gets into position behind her friend.

“Ok so i just tie it? When should I do it? There’s all these crystals in the way”

“Not for long” Weiss extends her hand behind her and places it palm down across the back of her neck. In one quick movement she sliced her hand downwards, breaking off the dust crystals, causing blood to rush out of the wounds. Ruby stood shocked for a moment before she remembered her task and pressed the cloth against the fresh wounds on Weiss’ back.

After regaining her composure Ruby finally managed to ask “What just happened, what were those spikes? Are the rest of those wounds from the same thing?” After a couple seconds of silence Ruby asked “Why break them off? they looked cool”

The last statement brought a smile from Weiss “Because my brain uses electrical signals to control the dust in my body as well as my muscles, when I train my body I lose a slight amount of control over the creation of dust.” Weiss tied the cloth across her chest and began to search for her clothes. “So I will create dust unintentionally in the areas that are receiving the most signals from my brain. Before it was all over my body, my legs, my arms, my chest, now it’s just my back” Weiss found her shirt and leant tenderly against a wall “When I started training with my new body the pain was incredible, my joints would stop moving and my whole body would seize up after a time, but the more i worked the easier it became to prevent my body from creating dust without my conscious decision. That was three months ago that the other crystals stopped forming, but I can’t seem to stop the formation on my back.”

“So for three months you’ve had to break your back dust off every day? why not keep them? they look pretty cool” Ruby sat down next to Weiss “Do they grow the more you train or just grow out initially and then just stay there?”

“As far as I know they don’t grow as long as they are there at the beginning of the training, but I can’t keep them” Weiss slid down the wall to sit next to Ruby and shook her head “If I kept them, no matter how hard I tried, people like Pyrrha wouldn’t be able to accept me anymore. Pyrrha is already nervous about my condition, now imagine if I walked down right now with foot long spikes coming out of my spine.” She shook her head “Pyrrha would leave, and we need her strength, now more than ever.” Weiss’ face fell into a sullen frown “Plus the public would not accept me, you’ve heard what people call me already, I don’t think I should separate myself from humanity more than I already have”

The two sat in silence for a minute, Ruby at a total loss at how to console her friend. No one she knew had forfeited their humanity to become stronger. As far as she knew, the only friend she had other than Weiss that wasn’t Human of Faunus was...

“PENNY!” Ruby shouted the name excitedly. “Weiss, you should talk to Penny, maybe she has some advice on what to do in your situation”

“Why would Penny be able to… Oh right, the robot thing” Weiss furrowed her brow in thought “The only problem is that she disappeared after Ironwoods betrayal during the war, no one has seen her since, I’ve heard that she helped Ironwood’s escape and is in hiding with him, but rumors are not very reliable”

“Yep! Penny helped Ironwood escape, but she left him afterwards because he was too afraid to come out of hiding. Penny now lives in Mistral as a mechanic” Ruby smiled “I ran into her while I was hunting up in the east, she helped me upgrade Crescent Rose. There’s a new type of metal that she found up in the north, It’s lighter and stronger than the steel i used originally, so my scythe is now a quarter of the weight, and way easier to carry around”

“Wait hold on, we can talk about the scythe later, did you say Penny is in Mistral? Ozpin said he’d looked all over Remnant to find her and hadn’t found a trace of her”

“Yep! she’ in Mistral, or at least she was a month ago, she modified parts of her body so that no one could find her, but when she saw me she called me over and told me who she was. If she hadn’t done that I don’t think I would have noticed who she was, she really put some work into her new body.”

“Alright, well then, when we next go to Mistral we can try and find her, but until then, let’s not talk about the back crystal thing, ok?”

“Alright, now let’s go eat, Pyrrha said something about breakfast when I came up here. She said fifteen minutes but I’m not sure how long it’s been.”

The two girls walked down the stairs into the other room, the smell alone had Ruby salivating. Jaune was sitting beside Pyrrha with a bowl of soup in front of him and Pyrrha was beside him, blush from laughter. Ruby ran immediately to the pot of soup heating over the fire and poured herself a bowl. While Ruby got her food ready, Pyrrha’s laughter stopped suddenly and a feeling of tension took over the room. Weiss stood facing Pyrrha for a moment, before she turned off and sat in a corner, ignoring the food Pyrrha had made. Ruby finished pouring out her soup and after taking a look over at Pyrrha, who had since become engaged once again in whatever story Jaune was telling, proceeded to walk over to Weiss.

“After a workout like that you should eat something, Weiss, your body needs strength”

“My body doesn’t need food anymore. Dust is energy and since I’m now part dust, food and sleep are unnecessary.” She looked longingly at the hot pot of food hanging above the fire. “Food makes me sick, I don’t know if my body is still trying to control the dust, or whether the dust itself is reacting to food, but it’s easier for me not to eat anymore”

“So you haven’t eaten or slept in more than six months?” Ruby looked back over at Pyrrha, she could understand why Weiss made her so uneasy. There were so many things so necessary to a human that Weiss no longer needed. “Well that’s ok i guess, I don’t think I could do something like that, but it’s the soul that counts, no matter how your body and habits change you’ll always be Weiss, and that’s good enough for me”

“I can see why Penny likes you so much, you must be the only person in the world who treats her like a person” Weiss smiled down at Ruby “Maybe today will be different, who knows” Weiss held out her hand for Ruby’s bowl of soup and took a sip. She grimaced then returned the bowl back to Ruby. “I don’t know if my body is still rejecting the food, or if I’m just unused to anything richer than water but I don’t think I could eat a whole bowl without my stomach turning inside out” She took a moment to compose herself before continuing “Although, I don’t think I feel as bad now as I used to, maybe I should eat more often, practice for when I need to go eat in public” 

“You absolutely should, food is awesome” Ruby beamed up at Weiss “You should also go tell Pyrrha how good the food is, it might help her calm down about the whole ‘not human’ thing” Weiss nodded and stood up, after taking a few moments to compose herself, made her way over to Pyrrha and Jaune. Pyrrha immediately became uncomfortable in Weiss’ presence, although she did her best to hide it. Jaune patted the mat beside him, asking Weiss to sit down with him, however Weiss did not notice.

“Your soup is fantastic” Weiss then stood in silence and waited. Jaune had already stopped talking and a silence descended over the four occupants. After what seemed to be an eternity, Pyrrha gave a slow nod, before excusing herself from the room and heading down into main floor of the building. Weiss nodded to Jaune and walked back to her spot beside Ruby. The silence continued, neither Ruby nor Jaune felt the right to break the silence Weiss had caused. Ruby finished the rest of her food while Jaune cleaned up the camp. Pyrrha did not return for several minutes, Jaune had already finished packing by the time her footsteps on the stairs. The three braced themselves, ready for whatever shocking development had occurred to cause Pyrrha to become so frantic. Pyrrha burst through the door, her eyes immediately finding Ruby, who had since begun packing her belongings.

“Ruby, you must come see this”

  


**********

  
  


“That was Pyrrha right?”

“Yep”

“So Ruby is in that building”

“Yep”

“And we’re just sitting here”

“Yep”

“Why exactly are we just sitting here?”

“Yep” Yang opened her eyes and looked over at Sun “We’re sitting here because Ruby is going to come to us.”

“I thought you came here to apologize to her, the least you could do is go and meet her instead of making her meet you.”

“I didn’t come here to apologize to her, I came here to earn her forgiveness, there’s a difference” Yang stood and pulled her scarf down. “Sometimes, all you need is an apology, but with Ruby I don’t think that’s all it will take. The idiot probably still blames herself even though it wasn’t her fault.”

“Still though, why make her come out and meet you?”

“I think I’ll need a little bit of space for my apology you know. space to move”

“You don’t… You’re going to fight her?? I thought you wanted to earn her forgiveness or whatever”

“Just shut up and watch, this is what we need to do, we’re sisters after all” Yang smiled and walked forward into the open space between her camp and the building Ruby is in. She stretched slightly before arming Ember Celica. She stood and waited, motionless until the doorway that Pyrrha had just been spotted in began to show signs of movement.

“C’monnnnnnn Ruby! Hurry up! I wanna see my little sis, now get out here already!” Yang’s voice pierced the silence of the ruined city. Ruby stepped tentatively out from the shadow of the doorway.

“Why are you here Yang? You disappear for a year, and not a word. I wandered Remnant in it’s entirety, and yet not a single person had seen you.” Ruby walked out into the clearing and stood across from Yang.

“Yes well, I wasn’t technically in Remnant for most of the year” Yang shrugged. “I was in Mistral for a bit, but mostly I was training in the south and on the Dragon Islands.”

“Dragon Islands? Why would you go there? There’s nothing there but ruins and ashes”

Sun snuck up behind Yang “I thought you said there were scholars and monks and stuff”

“Shut up monkey boy, I was going to get there” Yang growled, “the Dragon Islands were cut off, but their people did not go extinct, they just hid. For decades, they did nothing, until Remnant decided that after the volcanoes erupted, that the people had long since been gone. Mistral closed their trade routes to the Islands and the rest of Remnant allowed themselves to forget.” Yang closed her eyes and paused before continuing. “I first heard about the Islands while Weiss was forcing me to study, I knew that I would have to go there, it became almost an obsession. Once you left Beacon, I knew that was the time. There was no point in staying once our team had broken up, so I decided why wait to be a huntress? I can go on an adventure right now and train in my own way and become strong. Stronger than I ever could while sitting at an academy.”

“So you decided to leave and go sift through the ashes of some deserted Islands east of Mistral?

“They’re not deserted, Ruby” Yang opened her eyes, the violet color had been replaced with a burning red, and her hair began to float, weightless, like flames dancing from her head. “We are the descendants of the Dragons. Ruby, just like our father was, and the Dragons are still alive. I went to the Islands expecting to find tombs and ashes, but instead found a civilization, thriving in the jungles of what was presumed to be the most uninhabitable on the planet. They taught me things about my semblance, and the power I possessed.” Yang stepped towards Ruby “Before I could only access the power of my semblance when I was hit or angry, but now I can activate it preemptively, before a fight even happens. I spent the last year training hard for when I came back and met you again Ruby. I’m so much stronger than I was a year ago, all I ask from you is another chance to prove myself, to earn your trust” Yang’s hair fell back down her back and her eyes faded back to violet. 

“What do you mean you need to ‘earn my trust’? I was the one who failed you, I should be the one apologizing, not you”

“No Ruby, you did what you needed to do, as a captain you took it upon yourself to do what needed to be done, it was our fault, my fault for not being able to keep up”

“Yang it was not your fault, I ignored you, I left you alone and ran away from my team, that is not what a captain does, a captain does not leave her team”

“No, you listen to me, we did not deserve you to lead us. We did not have the strength you have sis, we didn’t even bother to try to keep up with you. We could all see what needed to be done, just like you had, but we had decided it was impossible before we had even tried. You were the only one out of the four of us, who even though it was nearly impossible, still tried.” Yang took another step towards Ruby “We failed you that day, I’m sure Weiss feels the same way, even if she doesn’t want to admit it, and because of our failure, you took the blame. I’m here because I need to show you how strong I am, I need to show you I won’t make the same mistake again”

“So you want to fight? like we did at Beacon?”

“Not exactly, I don’t plan on holding back this time, and I hope neither do you” Yang flashed a smile at her sister before rushing towards her at explosive speed. Yangs first punch Ruby sidestepped easily, although the speed with which Yang manages to change direction and fire of a second punch surprised her. She braced herself to be hit, but the impact never came.

“Get out of here, Weiss, this is between sisters.” Yang growled

“I will not allow this. Not here, not now. We need some sort of safety if you want to fight. I am not going to stand by and watch you kill each other.”

“Weiss, I said mo…”

“Weiss, it’s ok.” Ruby looked up into the icy eyes of her friend. Weiss looked into Ruby’s eyes for a moment before nodding and backing off to where Jaune and Pyrrha stood watching. 

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s continue, I’ve been looking forward to this you know. I haven’t had a good fight in over a year” Yang once again flung herself at Ruby, however Ruby was ready this time. In one fluid movement, she dodged Yang’s attack and pulled out Crescent Rose. The scythes improved weight made readying the blade faster than the blink of an eye, before Yang had even recovered from her initial attack, Ruby was already leaping into the air, landing with her back to the sun, her scythe in one hand extended behind her back and the other placed in a guard across her jaw. Yang grit her teeth, Ruby moved incredibly quickly at the best of times, but with a lighter weapon, it almost resembled teleportation. Ruby’s movements had improved dramatically, she moved with a precision she previously lacked, no longer was she reckless and hasty. As a fighter she had matured, however she was not confident in her fighting, she avoided situations where she would be on equal footing even if she already knew her opponent's power. Ruby was a stronger fighter, Yang knew this, and Ruby certainly knew it, however she had chosen not to attack after Yang’s engagement and instead placed the sun at her back, giving her the upper hand. Yang knew that if Ruby managed to gain confidence in herself once again, she would be a terror on the battlefield. 

“Are you running away from me Ruby? You should have let Weiss stay and fight if you had already decided not to”

“We are fighting”

“That’s a lie.” Yang’s eyes turned red once again “I am fighting you, however you are not fighting me. I want you to fight me Ruby. I need you to see my strength”

“Alright then, this time, I’ll come at you with everything”

Yang smiled, then burst forwards once again, however this time she predicted Ruby’s movement and placed her punch so her momentum throw her in the same direction her sister. As her fist hit air, as she expected, she threw herself sideways in the direction Ruby had gone, although instead of Ruby she saw only Crescent Rose stuck in the ground. The moment Yang realized that Ruby was not where she’d expected her to be, Ruby kicked her hard in the back of her head, using Yang’s momentum, as well as the kick to throw Yang at full speed towards the tip of the Scythe blade. Yang only had time to adjust her head so the blade only grazed her cheek, and her aura manage to block most of the damage, however the attack still managed to draw blood. Yet Yang had no time to compose herself, Ruby had already retrieved the scythe and was using the shaft to keep Yang off balance while aiming a sweep kick towards the back of Yang’s legs. Yang stepped up and leapt off the shaft of Ruby’s Rose, then launched into a counter attack, Ember Celica rang shot after shot, the momentum from Ruby’s kick carrying her directly into the line of fire. Ruby dug the shaft of her scythe into the ground to stop her movement and fired a shot from her rifle to lift her backwards onto her feet. The two stood in a stalemate, circling their arena, watching each other for openings.

“You’re fast” Yang commented

“Speed is relative” Ruby replied. “I do not feel fast, just as you don’t feel strong, I am fast compared to you, and you are strong compared to me, It’s all perspective.”

“Wow, that’s pretty deep for a nineteen year old” 

“A lot has happened in this past year.”

“You’re telling me” Once again Yang rushed towards Ruby, although this time instead of trying to use speed, she launched a slower, more powerful offensive. If any single one of Yang’s punches landed, Ruby would be unable to fight. However Ruby was not allowing any of Yang’s attacks to come close to landing. By the time Yang had turned to where Ruby was, Ruby was already launching an attack from somewhere else. Using her Scythe as more than a weapon, with her speed, it felt like Yang was fighting two people at once, the coordination from Ruby and her weapon guaranteed at least one attack would land at any given time. If Yang was to beat Ruby, it would have to be in the air, where their speed did not matter. Yang slammed her fists into the ground, causing the ground beneath them to cave in. Underneath their feet stood the underground ruins that had once held been home to thousands, thousands of feet below them. Ruby lept into the air immediately trying to reach the edge of the pit Yang had created, once Yang saw where Ruby was going she launched herself towards her, using her gauntlets for an extra boost of speed. Ruby had no choice but to receive the attack, she lessened the impact by using her rifle to launch herself in the same direction as Yang, however the impact was similar to being hit by a train. Crescent Rose flashed out and hooked Yang by the waist and threw her to the edge of the hole she had created. Ruby landed on the opposite side and dropped to her knees. 

“Nice one” Ruby gasped

“Haha, speed doesn’t matter in the air.” Yang grinned

“True, I wasn’t expecting you to cave the ground in, although you haven’t won yet” 

“Oh come onnn Ruby, you can’t even stand. How are you supposed to fight, am I fighting Snow White next or what.”

“No, I don’t need Weiss, I just need my Rose, look, here it comes”

Yang had not noticed Ruby’s scythe had disappeared after Ruby had used it to throw her away. Now that she looked for it, she could see it dropping quickly, entering the hole Yang had created. As she watched it, it disappeared, and with blinding speed appeared beside her, stuck into the ground. Ruby was still kneeling across the gap.

“How… the scythe just, it just teleported? How?”

Ruby grinned at her sister “You know, just because you can’t see me move, doesn’t mean I haven’t” Ruby disappeared and reappeared beside Yang, on the other side than the scythe. “Remember not to trust your eyes too much, some things just really don’t want to be seen” Ruby used her scythe to throw Yang back into the air, over the pit. Yang tried to use Ember Celica to control her movement slightly, however there was not enough power to do more than slow her movement. Ruby grabbed her scythe, folded the blade into the shaft, until the scythe resemble more of a javelin. Using a shot from her rifle, Ruby threw the javelin at Yang, who was falling helplessly into the pit. Yang caught the spear as it flew towards her, though Ruby was already behind her, using the shaft of her scythe to pin Yang’s arms. The two hit the ground on the other side, Yang skidding across the ground on her back and Ruby standing on her stomach. Ruby spun the scythe across Yang’s chest and pressed the scythe blade, which had since reappeared, across Yang’s throat.

“Wooooo! I win!”Ruby kicked the scythe back into her hand and spun it around like a baton. “You’re strong Yang, stronger than I could ever be, although I think speed holds an advantage over strength.” Ruby smiled and offered a hand to help Yang up off the ground. Yang took Ruby’s assistance and beamed at her after she had stood up.

“You’ve improved a lot this year, your speed, precision, it’s incredible.” Yang embraced her younger sister “I’m sorry I was such a bad teammate before. I promise if you let me join you guys I won’t fail again.”

“What do you mean if? Of course you’re coming with us, if we had Blake the entire team would be back together.”

“Speaking of Blake, have you heard anything from her? All I know is that she left went of to be a symbol or something”

“Blake is currently leading the Faunus revolution.” Ruby replied “With you here, maybe we can convince her to come help us but I don’t know. When we last talked she seemed very serious about what she was doing, although I get the feeling this revolution isn’t exactly what she had planned”

“Why? is something wrong with Blake?”

“No I don’t think Blake has changed all that much, but I think she is taking the demands of the Faunus too seriously, she’s becoming a figurehead for all the hatred the Faunus have towards the humans, and I think if she doesn’t step up soon, things might get out of control, like the White Fang” Ruby’s face fell “The last thing I want is to go to war with Blake because she can’t control her followers. She set out to be a symbol, but I don’t think she is a leader, she’s not leading the Faunus towards peace with humans, but rather allowing their hatred to spiral out of control. If we don’t step in soon, I think we might have another White Fang on our hands.”

“Well she was never all that great with people” Yang slapped Ruby on the back and smiled “But with all of us here, I have no doubt we’ll be able to convince her”

“I hope so” Ruby lead Yang back to where Jaune, Pyrrha and Weiss had been watching. Upon their arrival, Weiss turned and walked back into the building, mumbling something about packer her things. Ruby could tell that she was upset with the way the sisters had handled things.

“What’s got her in a huff?” Yang asked

“She doesn’t want us to fight, there’s too much evil in the world for friends to attack each other” Pyrrha responded “Although I think a fight every now and then is healthy between friends”

“You guys are incredible” Jaune added excitedly “It was like, BAM, FwoooOooSH, Pow, WHAM, Yang you’re so strong! and Ruby! I could hardly see you move, you would just appear somewhere else.” Jaune took a moment to catch his breath “I wish I could fight, although I don’t think I could ever get to be as good as you guys, even before the explosion”

“So you haven’t got any better?” Yang inquired

“We’ll i think I have gotten better, but I’m still miles away from where I was before. I can dressed by myself now, and only need Pyrrha to move really heavy stuff, I can hold my sword now, but I can’t use it without dropping it” Jaune sighed “The doctor says that there’s residual dust in my body, and it’s restricting my muscle use. Hopefully it will go away in time, but it is taking way too long.”

“Jaune is getting better” Pyrrha said firmly “I’ve been with him ever since the explosion, I can see the progress he’s made, and he continues to improve”

“Well, I guess we can see what happens, there’s no use in worrying about it, I will either get better or not, I’m still alive and that’s all that matters right now”

Yang pounded her chest with her fist “Truth, brother” She then looked through the door Weiss had recently entered “So are you guy’s leaving now? I got here just in time then” She smiled “So where are we going Ruby?”

“Well, ummm….. I’m not really sure, I’ve heard reports of some huge grimm in Mistral, plus I told Weiss I would take her to see Penny, so… I guess we’re going to Mistral?”

“Sounds good to me, although, why does Weiss want to see Penny? I didn’t know there were that close”

“Oh, well, ummm….” Ruby paused “Weiss has been having some… Issues, and I think Penny might be able to help”

“What’s happening with Weiss? Plus Penny is a robot, i don’t see how she can resolve Weiss’ issues”

“Yang, just leave it alone” Pyrrha placed a hand a hand Yang’s shoulder. “If you’re curious, you can ask Weiss directly, otherwise, don’t ask at all” Yang nodded. Clearly what was going on was personal to Weiss and her friends didn’t feel comfortable sharing without Weiss’ permission. 

“Soooooo, I heard something about Mistral” Sun Wukong crept up beside Yang “Uhhhhh, when are we leaving?”

“Now” Ruby smiled at Sun “It’s good to see you again Sun, have you spoken to Blake recently?”

“Ummm, yes and no” Sun rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly

“What’s that supposed to mean, monkey boy” Yang slapped his shoulder. Hard. “Give us a straight answer”

Sun rubbed his shoulder “Uh, well I was at the Faunus camp, and tried to get in to see Blake, but apparently she isn’t talking to people anymore”

“How do you mean?” Pyrrha asked.

“Well, the Faunus have made her their Queen, and what she told me is that that means she can’t interact with the commons as much anymore”

“Hold on a second? Blake is a Queen? Awwww that’s so cooooool” Ruby did a quick pirouette in place “What do Queens do anyway?”

“More importantly you just said you didn’t speak to her and now you say she told you this? I don’t get it” Jaune commented.

“Well I didn’t speak to her, she sent me a message when I left. She needs our help. She’s practically a hostage now, the Faunus won’t let her go anywhere or do anything” Sun sighed “Blake is always the first person to join the fight, or lead the search or whatever, and now she’s sitting behind a veil, like some kind of child that needs to be protected. She hates it, it goes against everything she believes, but if she steps down now, all the Faunus will riot.” Sun slumped down onto the ground “I love her so much and haven’t seen her in six months, I can’t even speak to her anymore.” He flung himself onto his back “This suuuuuuuucks”

The rest of the group hovered uncomfortably around Sun, until Yang kicked him in the ribs. “Get up already, I can hear Weiss coming down the stairs.” Ruby pricked her ears and listened for Weiss’ footsteps, however it took her several seconds before she heard even the slightest scuffle of foot on stone. Clearly Yang had not simply trained her combat in her time away, her senses had been fine tuned to pick up even the slightest changes. 

Weiss came through the doorway carrying two bags, one of which she threw to Ruby. “I took the liberty of finishing your packing as well, Ruby”

Ruby blushed as she checked to make sure all her belongings had been packed “Thank youuuuuuuu” Ruby flashed her puppy dog eyes at Weiss, who let out a ‘Humph’ and walked off.

“How are we getting to Mistral anyways? We can’t borrow an airship can we? It’ll take weeks if we don’t.” Yang asked.

“We’ll have to walk across to the eastern seaboard and take a ship from there” Weiss stated, firmly, Ruby nodded in agreement.

“I don’t want people to know about us right now, so we have to be careful. If the White Fang find out that we’re trying to find them, they might do something really radical and kill a lot of people. We have to be as inconspicuous as possible. So that means, no airships Yang, as little outside help as possible, if we can do it ourselves then we will.” Ruby stated.

“What about when we come to a city or town?” 

“We go in groups, Jaune and Pyrrha will go together and Weiss, Yang and I will go together, so we can be as inconspicuous as possible. Plus I have my Reaper cloak so nobody will really see me anyways” 

Sun sat bolt upright, almost smashing his head into Yang’s knee. “Hold up, you have a Reaper cloak? Where the hell did you get one of those? Aren’t those expensive?” He stood up “Where is it? Can I see it? I always wanted one, can I see it? Can I? Pleaseeeeee?”

Ruby giggled and pulled the cloak from her bag, handing it to Sun. She then turned to the rest of the group “Before you ask, since I only told Weiss that I had this, I’ll tell you, no I did not steal it, and no it was not given to me. Long story short I found a stash of Reaper cloth in a warehouse in Vacuo and sewed it myself. That’s all I’m saying, now we need to decide how we're getting to the coast. We could go under the mountains, which would be fastest but the most dangerous, or we can go over the mountains which would take longer but be far safer.” Ruby looked across the faces of her friends. “I say we go over, It will take us a couple of extra days, and Jaune might have some trouble, but the Grimm on the mountain are far easier to deal with than the one’s that are in the caves.”

“Alright deal, let’s go” Yang starts to walk away, then stops when she realizes no one is following her “Hey, are we leaving or not?”

“Yang, east is that way” Weiss points at a right angle from the direction Yang had gone.

“I knew that, I was just gonna get out of the ruins and then turn and go that way” Yang walks of, now in the correct direction. The rest of the part ready’s their bags, Sun hands Ruby her cloak and she stuffs in back in her sack. Ruby nods to each member in turn, in a silent agreement. They will survive this journey, no matter how dangerous, they will survive. 

  


********

  


Blake had not seen sunlight in two weeks. Under normal circumstance, this would not have bothered her, however she was not in control anymore. Her so called ‘subjects’ did not want her to be put in danger, so she was forced to keep to a closed room the majority of the time. The only excitement in the past three months had been Sun’s visit, yet even then she was not even allowed to see him. She had managed to convince one of her guards to bring him a note, which had to be proofread. Over the course of the past month, Grimm attacks had become more and more frequent, attracted to the hate of the Faunus towards the humans. Blake did not like how the Grimm were reacting to their encampment, she would prefer to move the Faunus group into one of the kingdoms, however this could potentially spark conflict in between the two races. Above all else, Blake’s goal was to prevent the emergence of the White Fang, which had been not been seen for almost a year now. Now, Blake was concerned more with not creating another White Fang, but creating something apart from the White Fang, something new, terrifying. If the hatred of the Faunus festered any longer, there was a possibility of a violent revolution. All because she had wanted to help her people see the light, she had simply turned them off on a darker path. The White Fang had manipulated the Faunus into serving under Torchwick and Cinder, but now the Faunus have decided themselves to despise humans, giving them a conviction they previously lacked. This was the most terrifying aspect of the current state of the Faunus, with any slight provocation from humans, they might completely erupt. If Blake cannot control the Faunus, then there will be war, and soon. 

Blake opened her eyes, observing once again her cell. A desk off on the right wall stood littered in crumpled sheets of paper, letters to her friends she had never been given permission to send. On the desk was a lamp, the only source of light in the room, casting harsh shadows across the rest of the room. On the left stood a bookshelf, holding four books in total. All of the books Blake had brought with her had been burned by the Faunus because they had been written by humans, they said since the humans refuse to publish Faunus works, then the Faunus should not read human works. Blake could not voice her disgust at that notion, her belief was that all life is equal, the actions of the past are not a standard for the future. If the world is going to change, it will not be born anew in the ashes of repeated mistakes, but rather the advancement of new ideologies. Yet, for all her ideals, she was now just a puppet, a figurehead for the, so called “crucible” of the Faunus. She could do nothing but wait, wait and hope that somehow Ruby could come to her, find her and bring her back into the world. Ruby may be the only human who could pacify the Faunus, however if she is seen with Weiss, then the storm may break, and rain down it’s savage wrath upon Remnant. All she can do now is wait, Blake closes her eyes once again, there was nothing for her to see now. The harsh light from the lamp turned the inside of her eyelids a faint red. She smiled. 


	3. Heroes; Chapter 3- Revelation

****

Ozpin reclined at his desk and poured himself another cup of coffee. The gears that surrounded him gave off a pleasant whirring as they spun, the atmosphere of this office had never failed to put the headmaster at ease. It had been a long year at Beacon, stress and tensions were heightened from the recent outbursts of the Faunus. Blake seemed to be struggling for control over her people, yet there was nothing Ozpin could do. His injury in the war caused him to be absent of a large amount of the goings on in Remnant. Ruby Rose,  if anyone was to blame for his current state, it would be her, yet Ozpin felt no resentment, no anger towards her. Rather, when he thought of the young girl, woman, all that he could feel was an overwhelming pity. Ruby was not the type to take failure easily, she believed herself a hero, to cause damage to her allies as she had done, it would have destroyed her. Perhaps he had made a mistake in her expulsion, he could have made an exception for her, bent the rules just slightly. Although it may have cost him his position as headmaster, Ruby may have been better off if she had the chance to stay with her team. Ozpin massaged his thigh with the heel of his hand, trying to loosen up the muscle. It was a bad habit of his, all it did was cause pain, there was no way he would get his leg to be able to move again. 

 

Before the war, Ruby had worked the hardest out of team RWBY to perfect her fighting. during the lead up to the final battle, she had created a new technique, taking advantage of her strong aura control; she called them Aura Bullets. She would load a cartridge of blank bullets into Crescent Rose and as she would fire the round, she would fill the round with a concentrated shot of her aura. It was a technique she had perfected with the sole intention of killing humans and Faunus. The way we had been fighting until that point, it was designed to fight the Grimm, the use of dust and the way the weapons were designed made it very difficult to damage other beings who possessed aura. Ruby’s Aura Bullets were created to negate the effects of her opponent's aura, effectively creating a hole in their defense that would last long enough for the bullet to slip through. This technique had almost single handedly won the war. Once the White Fang realized what Ruby had done, most had decided to flee, only those who were devoted to that Cinder witch stayed and fought, although at that point the battle had already been won. Torchwick, Cinder and that Mercury boy escaped, Emerald surrendered to Ruby and was brought back to Vale. Although, no matter the effect on the war, Ruby’s technique may also be the main reason that tension between humans and Faunus rose to such a boiling point. She basically murdered the Faunus, Ozpin could not imagine what must have happened between Ruby and Blake afterwards, or even if the rest of team RWBY knew about the technique Ruby had created. It was quite possible that Ruby hid the existence of her new skill from her team, given how dangerous it was. Although that meant she would have to shoulder the burden of all those she had killed alone. 

 

Ozpin dropped his hand from the knotted branch that was his limb. Having experienced the effect of Ruby’s technique, he could truly understand the pain of the Faunus, watching their brothers succumb to blood and terror. He had been fighting Cinder and Torchwick at the time, Ruby still in the back firing off as many shots as she could into the Faunus. Ruby spotted his fight while firing and took the shot straight to Torchwick’s heart. Cinder reacted instantly and created an explosion the the left of the bullet, knocking the bullet of course. The bullet swerved to the right, directly into Ozpin’s knee. Ruby ceased fire after that shot, although, after doing the calculations, she still had around eight more shots to fire. It seemed at that point she became unable to pull the trigger. In fact, she didn’t even swap Crescent Rose out of scythe form for the rest of the fight. Even when Torchwick and Cinder were fleeing, Ruby could not bring herself to fire another shot. The destruction was too great, such a technique is possibly the most dangerous thing the humans have ever created. It raises the possibility of war between humans and Faunus could result in thousands more deaths, and a brutality the likes of which has never been experienced in thousands of years. The world is changing, a shadow is forming above Remnant, blocking out the light. If the world continues down this path, kingdoms will crumble, extinction has become a very real possibility.

 

“A report has come in from the Schnee girl”

 

“Glynda, she’s no longer a Schnee, when will you learn to simply call her Weiss?” Ozpin turned his wheelchair to face his assistant “If you like, you can call her ‘Snow Angel’ like Mr. Arc, although I feel that would not suit you very well”

 

“Alright, well, Weiss’ report has just come in, would you like you hear it or should I leave it for tomorrow?”

 

“It is late I suppose” Ozpin tented his fingers and sighed “However I have no intention of sleeping, you may as well entertain me for at least a little longer”

 

“Very well, sir” Glynda began the shuffle the papers in her hand, a faint smile touching her lips “As usual, Weiss’ report far exceeds my expectations, included are detailed physical conditions of Ruby as well as the rest of her team. Yang has made her appearance, she and Ruby fought, Ruby winning handily it seems” Glynda coughed “She described Ruby as ‘ The snake which has newly emerged from molting its skin, a phoenix, who has risen from its own ashes to become beauty and strength’” Glynda coughed again “Well you get the point, sir, Ruby is stronger than ever now, although knowing what she can do…”

 

“If there were a single being in this world who I trust with that technique, it would be Ruby Rose” Ozpin relaxed in his wheelchair “Qrow does not take just anyone under his wing. Niece or not, if Qrow did not see something special in that child, he would not have spent the time to train her. I believe in Qrow’s judgement.” Ozpin took a sip of his coffee “She has the strength to understand what she has done, and overcome the consequences, I believe in her, as should you”

 

“You’re right, sir” Glynda placed the papers on Ozpin’s desk “However i do fear, for how many people saw what Ruby had done? Many of those who participated in the war do not have the skill to use a technique like that the Miss Rose did, although there will be imitations, that is my fear. Weiss, you and I are not the only people to see this power, and most are not as pure as Ruby.”

 

“That may be true, however we must adapt to this new world, if we plan to survive in it.” Ozpin wheeled his chair around his desk “Continue with the report please”

 

“Very well, from what Weiss has written after the fight, the team has decided to go over the mountains towards the east, and take a boat from the coast and head over to Mistral, although she fails to explain why” Glynda turned a couple of the pages in Weiss’ report. “It seems that Ruby has made no mention of the Emerald girl, despite your expectations.”

 

“That is understandable. I’m sure she wants nothing more than to place as much distance between her and Vale as possible. However, i believe she will make an attempt at Emerald sometime soon. After all she is the best chance Ruby has at finding Cinder.”

 

“Do you really think that Emerald will help us? Even if Ruby is under the impression she was never quite on the same level as Cinder, i still have my doubts. What should we do if she betrays us?”

 

“No, I do not believe that Emerald will betray us, or at least to be more specific, Ruby. Those two have always seemed to share some sort of understanding. I think Emerald has more respect for Ruby than she ever had for Cinder. From what she tells us, she joined Cinder out of desperation, and remained there because there was no place for her in this world. Ruby has given her that acceptance, beside Ruby, there will always be a home for her and that is what she cherishes above all things. Cinder treated her like a slave, a henchman, whereas Ruby treats her as a friend, a sister. Ruby’s compassion gave her a future, i don’t think she has the ability to leave Ruby’s side.”

 

“I suppose that would explain why she decided to come to the prison in Vale, and was so adamant about staying here when Atlas tried to take her away.” Glynda commented. “Did you always expect Ruby to break Emerald out? Is that why you resisted Atlas’ attempts to remove her?”

 

“I had my suspicions, yes. Friend or not, Emerald is still the best chance Ruby has at finding the remaining White Fang.” Ozpin closed his eyes and tented his fingers “All we have to do now is wait”

 

****************

 

Weiss has been keeping secrets. Ruby has noticed already that she’s been acting differently around her, changing the subject when the conversation strays onto Vale. There is something she is not telling her, although it seems that Jaune and Pyrrha may know what it is. However, no matter how much Ruby would like to confront Weiss about it, her actions may cause negative feelings to attract the Grimm. The most important thing when travelling outside of the kingdoms is to stay calm and to stay positive. The Grimm feed of negative emotions, and anger, sadness, jealousy, resentment, all of those things can spell the death of all six in their party. Jaune and Yang Ruby did not have to worry about in the slightest, Sun and Pyrrha were potential hazards, being so focused on the well being of those dear to them. Weiss however was easily set off on the smallest accusation. Ever since Ruby had met her, Weiss had continued to believe herself to be above others, even now, after all that had happened, she believed herself to be unique, deserving of special attention. The only person Ruby knew who commanded Weiss’ respect was herself, even Ozpin had issues with Weiss on occasion. Yet if Ruby approached Weiss and accused her of being a traitor, not only would Weiss get angry at the accusation, but Pyrrha who already had doubts about Weiss may turn against her. The dissention within the team would almost certainly pique the interest of the Grimm, and Ruby did not feel comfortable provoking the Grimm so far from safety. If the Grimm found them, they would be chased all the way to the eastern shore, which would be still several days even at full speed. Especially with Jaune who would have to be carried. 

 

In the beginning when Ruby had just began living outside the kingdoms, there were many times that her poor self control would lead to her getting into trouble with Grimm. Luckily her speed would let her escape from almost any attack. For months, ever week or so she would have to use her semblance to escape from a group of Grimm, until she decided to find out why she was attacked so often. A man who lived to the north of Vacuo was the only person she spoke to who would give her an answer. His name was Ravn, and what he told her Ruby would never forget.

 

********

 

“Legends tell us not the events of the past, but rather, the outcome. When man first came to Remnant, they were an imperfect species, They themselves were born of anger and hatred, rage unmatched by nature. As time progressed man evolved, as living things must in order to survive. However the darkness in their hearts prevented some of them from moving forwards. Those who moved forwards became the future of mankind, while those who could not overcome their madness succumbed to the darkness became creatures of darkness themselves. The Grimm are descendants of mankind, like us. The Grimm are those who could not evolve and so they allowed the darkness to consume them, and with that darkness began to infect the natural world. They feed on the darkness, anger, hate, jealousy, resentment, they are attracted to these emotions, like wasps to sap. Therefore the secret to existing outside the kingdoms for any amount of time is to separate yourself from the darkness inside of your heart. Only those with a pure soul can exist alongside the Grimm, a soul devoid of corruption and darkness. A soul I believe you possess, Red One. You have the ability to see the light in all things, you possess the capacity for hope the likes of which I have never seen. The advice I give you is to meditate, focus your aura and feel the world around you. Immerse yourself in the aura that surrounds you and recognize the darkness in your heart. You are on the brink of self-destruction, as are the rest of those on this earth. You must be able to control your own emotions, even in the midst of combat. Your emotions must not control you. If you can master yourself, not only will you avoid Grimm attacks, but you will strengthen your aura as well.”

 

*********

 

Ruby still remembered what Ravn told her. All through the year she was travelling alone she tried to rid herself of her negativity. Over the course of the next several months the attacks slowly became less and less frequent until they stopped entirely. If she was alone, Ruby could control herself almost perfectly, however, now that she was a part of a team again, it became more and more difficult to stay positive. It was her job as captain to ensure that not only she stay positive, but that the rest of the team does as well. She could not allow darkness to seep into their collective aura. Her daily meditation allowed her to feel the collective aura of her team, and root out issues with teammates. Pyrrha’s aura is constantly on edge because of Weiss, Sun’s aura is bright, but Blake’s absence casts a heavy shadow. Jaune’s aura is astoundingly strong and unwaveringly positive, Yang’s aura is like a wildfire, unpredictable, dangerous always casting shadows upon other parts of her soul. If Yang was set off, the Grimm would come immediately, and in numbers corresponding to the passion in her aura. Ruby has to be careful of how she speaks to the team.

 

If Weiss is hiding something then the best thing to do would be to wait until they reach Mistral to confront her about it. Yet, it may take weeks to reach the kingdom and Ruby has to know what is going on with her partner or else the bond of trust they have forged will begin to crumble. She needed a point where she and Weiss would be alone, and have no fear of being interrupted by Pyrrha. For almost the entire day all six were together, the only time Weiss was alone was….

 

“Weiss, do you mind if I train with you tomorrow? I want to see more of your strength”

 

“Why the sudden interest?” Weiss looked puzzled “You always help me when I finish, why is this important?”

 

“I just want to see how strong you’ve become, nothing more” Ruby smiled, but her smile was false, and Weiss could see through it immediately. 

 

“Alright then, We can “train” I suppose” Weiss turned away from her friend “Just don’t lose your faith in me when you see what I have done”

 

Weiss knew something was wrong, Ruby could tell the shift in her aura, even without meditating. “Alright Weiss, tomorrow morning then” She tried to smile, but her lips refused to listen to her will. “Alright team! we should stop for now, It’s a little early, but we have a rough run for tomorrow, so we have to rest up” 

 

Everyone nodded and began to set up their mats and start a fire. Ruby took her Reaper Cloak and went off into the woods. She donned her cloak and set calmed herself in preparation for her meditation. She had been close to losing herself during her brief conversation with Weiss. She did not want to stop early, they could probably have gone for another hour before the sun began to set, but her emotions had begun to take control. 

 

Ruby pulled the hood of her cloak over her eyes and sat down. During her meditation sessions she did not want to make herself known to enemies, so the Reaper Cloak helped her stay undetected. While she was meditating she was very vulnerable, especially to Grimm attacks, Even if she could not move until she was out of her meditation state, she would be able to sense the aura of approaching attackers. She closed her eyes and allowed her soul to slip from her body. Meditation was the act of separating the soul from the physical being, and becoming a being of pure aura. In this state her aura and semblance control were heightened, and allowed her to see the aura of all living things around her. During her meditation sessions, it was her duty to observe the aura state of her team, as well as to sense the aura of the plants and wildlife that surrounded them. With this she could sense the amount of darkness in the environment, which would give her the opportunity to predict how likely the Grimm would be to attack their camp. It was believed that the Grimm could not produce an aura, and as such do not have souls, however Ravn had told her the truth behind the Grimm’s aura. 

 

******

 

“It is common knowledge that the Grimm do not have a soul, but that information is a lie. The Grimm do have souls, however they are not easily noticed to the standard Hunter. A Grimm soul is devoid of the light that is the source of our soul, and because of this are very hard to spot. Darkness without light is simply nothing, a void, which is why the Grimm are considered soulless. A Grimm soul is a void, but it does exist, as do Grimm aura. Every living being has a touch of Grimm aura, since every living being has some darkness in their hearts. When Grimm aura is active, not only does it infect your own aura, but it seeps into the aura of all living things. When the Grimm travel, remnants of their aura are left in the plants and animals in the area they pass through. Meditation will help you see these things, but you must remember, even if the Grimm have an aura and a soul, they are not people. They cannot be reasoned with, nor communicated with. Also, you must always remember, if a human or Faunus become tainted with darkness in their soul, it will consume them, and they will become a Grimm. As the world grows darker, you must act as a light to show the path to those on the verge of losing themselves. You are among the select few who can sense dark aura, and that means you must bear the responsibility to guide those who have fallen to darkness.”

 

******

 

Everything Ravn told her was true, now that she was aware of it, she could feel dark aura manifesting itself in all things. It worried her, but it seemed that the dark aura must be strong enough to consume the light aura in the person's soul for that person to fall to darkness. From her experience, the average person is around forty percent dark aura at all times. Once the dark aura becomes fifty percent or greater, Grimm can sense it, and once it reaches eighty percent, the light aura begins to be consumed. Only once had she ever pushed her aura to eighty percent, at the request of Ravn. Once Ruby could control her dark aura, she could consciously measure the amount of dark aura in her body, by focusing on the pain and anger in her heart she could raise the darkness higher and higher. Ravn wanted her to experience this, although he never spoke a word as to why. It was still a mystery as to why Ravn wanted her to experience so much dark aura. She assumed it was to understand how much it would take to consume a person, as well as how easy dark aura is to manifest in the soul. Although there was a part of that experience she still remembered, even Ravn had been told about this. There was such a rush of power that came with giving her body to dark aura. The temptation to fall to the dark and acquire such immense power was incredible. Without Ravn she would have fallen from grace at that point. The feeling terrified her, more than anything she had ever experienced. 

 

From her perspective, looking down on her own body, she could see the aura of everything around her. Ruby watched as Weiss’ aura separated itself from the rest of the team and began to make it’s way to where Ruby’s body rested. Ruby watched Weiss’ aura as it walked towards her. Weiss’ aura was strange, the living dust she had taken into her body possessed a curious aura. It was difficult for Ruby to master even light and dark aura, Weiss must maintain balance between three different auras. Ruby had to teach Weiss about dark aura, any slight imbalance in her soul and Weiss could either be consumed by darkness or turn herself into a dust crystal. Both things Ruby would like to prevent.

 

“Ruby are you here? I won’t be able to find you if you have your cloak on” Weiss chose a fallen tree and sat down. 

 

Ruby allowed her soul to enter back into her body “You know, for not being able to sense me, you were pretty close.” Weiss looked up startled to see Ruby sitting in front of her about three feet away. “I don’t think anyone’s ever come as close as you to finding me with the cloak on” Ruby laughed.

 

“Well, i guess I’m just the greatest teammate you’ve ever had, now aren’t I” Weiss smiled, however the smile began to fade immediately. “Ruby, I’ve been lying to you.”

 

“I know” Ruby beamed at Weiss.

 

“You KNOW?” Weiss replied, shocked.

 

“Of course I know.” Ruby’s smile faded. “I could sense the shift in your aura when you would change the subject away from Vale. All I want to know is why. Why have you been lying to me, and what is it about Vale that is so important I don’t find out about?”

 

“Well for one, the reason I’ve been lying to you is because I didn’t want to betray our friendship, I know how you feel about Ozpin, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable”

 

“What about Ozpin, Weiss?” Ruby tried her best to calm herself, she could feel the dark aura manifesting around her guilt. 

 

“I’ve been sending reports back to Ozpin and Glynda about our team, our progress and our goals.” Weiss stated.

 

Ruby forced herself to calm down. She had spent so much effort into hiding from Ozpin, so that she could make her apology at the appropriate time. If Weiss was relaying her plans back to Ozpin, not only did he know about her but also her plans, but also…

 

“Weiss, did you tell Ozpin about Penny? Please tell me you didn’t”

 

“I did not, although I did tell him about our plan to go to Mistral.”

 

“Why would you do this? I want to know, what did you expect the result of this be?”

 

“I believe you made a mistake, not going to see Ozpin on graduation day. Ozpin is as much a part of this next fight as you or I. Even if you still feel the guilt of crippling Ozpin, which I highly doubt you did, he needs to know about what we are doing.”

 

“I did it Weiss, his legs are because of me” Ruby hung her head.

 

“Ruby I don’t think you understand, there’s no way you could have caused that damage to him, none of your attacks would have been able to break through his aura anyways” Weiss looked into Ruby’s eyes “Unless, you did, somehow break his barrier. There were stories of a new Huntress that the people have named the Red Devil, a Huntress who uses technique specifically to kill people, there’s no way that’s you, right?”

 

Ruby looked into Weiss’ eyes, her own beginning to tear up “I called the technique Aura Bullets. It uses my own aura to cancel out the defensive effect of the enemies, giving whatever attack I use full force against a defenseless opponent.”

 

“So you’re the Red Devil then” Weiss dropped her head into her hands. “Ruby, that technique won us the war, no matter how disgraceful of a style it may be, I can’t hate you for it.” Weiss looked back to her friend “I believe in you Ruby, if you created this technique, then I will become the Fate to accompany the Red Devil in the pits of Hell”

 

Ruby burst into tears “You know, I really kinda like the name” Ruby smiled back at her friend “Now, enough about Ozpin, I suppose it’s not the biggest issue, we can speak later. I need to talk to you about something very important.”

 

“Important? What do you need to talk to me about?”

 

“Your aura, Weiss”


	4. Heroes; Chapter Four- Aura

 

“My Aura? What? Why?” Weiss inquired. The topic made her visibly uncomfortable, Ruby could tell immediately. “My Aura is fine, Ruby, why is it so important?”

“Well” Ruby paused for a moment to collect herself “You have three Aura’s Weiss” Ruby paused again. “Ok that was a little abrupt, let’s go a little slower. Weiss I’m sure you’ve felt it but the dust you laced yourself with has an Aura, correct?”

“Uh, yeah, I noticed it the first time I trained with my new body” Weiss narrowed her eyes “How did you…”

“I felt it when I watched you train the first time.” Ruby gave a smug smile “You didn’t think anyone could tell didn’t you?”

“Well, no, I didn’t. The dust in my body gives off less Aura than Jaune when he first came to Beacon” Weiss paused for Ruby’s snort, she allowed a smile before she continued “It’s almost imperceptible at the worst of times, and that’s only when it starts to rampage.”

“Nope” Ruby replied simply.

“What?”

“The aura isn’t imperceptible. It’s a strange case, because most people aren’t used to sensing two different Auras emanating from one being, so they don’t pay attention to it, but it is absolutely there. I’d say when you train about twenty-five percent of the aura you emit is dust.” Weiss did not seem to be grasping Ruby’s explanation, so she continued “The Aura from the dust is strange. It does not have much Aura on it’s own, from what I can tell it’s basically feeding off your Aura and converting it, which is why it feels almost imperceptible. If I were to make a color comparison, your Aura would be a pale blue-white, while the dust’s Aura seems to be more of a grey-white.”

“Ok, so essentially, the dust is converting my Aura into it’s own? Then why would it be so similar to my own Aura if that were the case?” Weiss inquired.

“Well, what it boils down to is that basically this dust that you found doesn’t have an Aura of it’s own.”

“But it does, Ruby, I was there when they were testing it. It’s alive”

“Yes, it’s alive, but no it doesn’t have it’s own Aura.” Weiss seemed about ready to interrupt again so Ruby quickly finished “It’s a parasite Weiss. When you explained it to me you compared it to “not quite a symbiosis” but I think it’s more of a symbiosis that you think”

“Alright, on one hand I’m impressed that you know this much, but on the other, how can you be so sure? How can you be so certain about it? It’s not even your Aura”

“I’ve seen it, Weiss. I was watching it while you trained.”

“You were watching my aura? What else did you do? Were you chatting it up with Blake as well?” Ruby’s face darkened “Ok, that was in poor taste but my point remains; it’s impossible to watch Aura, they taught us that at Beacon”

“We will find Blake, Weiss” Ruby glared in Weiss direction “And no it isn’t impossible. I’ve gotten much stronger while I was traveling. Stronger than even I care to realize. I was watching your Aura, just like I watch the teams Aura during our travel. I need to make sure we’re all in balance.”

“You’re giving me more questions than answers right now Ruby. You can watch Aura, alright, I’ll give you that, but what does ‘balance’ mean? Why are you telling me this specifically rather than the team as a whole? Ruby, answer me plainly; what’s going on?”

“Ok” Ruby took a deep breath “Basically I need to make sure that the teams Aura stays positive, because the Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, hate, jealousy, fear etcetera” 

Weiss nodded “Alright yeah I get that they taught us as much in school, but what’s this about balance? balance implies more than one condition has to be met.”

“Right.” Ruby nodded in agreement “I mentioned before that you had three types of Aura” Weiss nodded “Well, I covered your natural Aura and your dust’s Aura” Weiss nodded tentatively “Well, the third type of Aura is one that I learned about on my travels, it’s called Grimm Aura. It’s an Aura that manifests itself around negative emotions, and it’s the type of Aura that attracts Grimm”

“So the reason the Grimm flock towards negative emotions is because they can sense Aura?” Weiss held her head in her hands “Then, if they can sense Aura, does that mean…”

“Right, the Grimm have a soul too.” Ruby paused to allow the information to sink in “Grimm Aura is a strange Aura. It doesn’t react as a normal Aura would, and it’s difficult to perceive when you don’t know what to look for.”

“But if the Grimm have a soul then how come no one has noticed until you?” Weiss asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, I didn’t discover this alone, I had help” Ruby shifted uncomfortably “But I’ll talk about that later. The most important thing to remember is, What’s the number one law of physics?”

Weiss looked up, both surprised and offended “Every action must have an equal and opposite reaction, but why is that important? Why bring this up now? This has nothing to… Oh.” Weiss’ eye’s widened “Oh. My. God”

“Yeah, I think you just guessed what I’m getting at. Since our natural Aura is a source of Energy, then what would the opposite be?”

“Destruction.” Weiss began to shake slightly “So Grimm destroy Aura? How? Why do aura attacks work on them then?”

“Well, this is the thing, Grimm Aura doesn't so much destroy as it… Absorbs. It’s like a void. A void Aura, defined more or less as an absence of something that should exist. The Grimm have a void soul, and because of this, the void is filled with Grimm Aura, creating a Grimm. For the Grimm to exist, these two things must be present, a soul to act as a host, and void Aura to consume it.”

“What are you getting at Ruby, this better be relevant to me somewhere down the road, otherwise I’ll never forgive you for telling me this” Weiss had dropped her head back into her hands, her falling haphazardly around her face, obscuring it from view.

“I know Weiss. I know this is tough to know but you have to understand this for what I’m about to tell you. So by now we’ve covered that Grimm have souls, and we, as humans and faunus generate some Grimm Aura” Weiss didn’t bother to respond “So, the point that I’m getting at is, what happens when a human creates an excess of Grimm Aura?”

There was a long silence. Ruby waited patiently for Weiss to answer. She knew that Weiss knew the answer, but voicing it would give it weight, and she wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. Weiss began to shake, dust crystals began to form along her back, just like in training, but this was different. The energy that Ruby felt seemed different. Inhuman. Weiss stopped shaking, and peeked out at Ruby from the shroud of hair that had since fallen loose.

“People can turn into Grimm. You’re telling me that people turn into Grimm? You’re telling me that I might turn into a FUCKING GRIMM!? You’re telling me that I’ve been killing people that had once been FUCKING ALIVE!?” Frost began creeping out from where Weiss was touching the ground. Ruby needed to step in, and fast.

“Weiss. I need you to be calm about this”

“HOW CAN I BE CALM ABOUT THIS RUBY!? HOW!?” Weiss was shaking with a mixture of anger, sadness, guilt, and fear “HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM ABOUT THIS!?”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think this over, but time is a luxury we can’t afford, and if this carries on any further, than you will lose yourself. So please, Weiss, calm down. For me? Please?”

Weiss glared at her friend with a fury the likes of which Ruby had never seen Yet she sat down nonetheless, and the ice on the ground quickly began to melt away. But Ruby could still feel the emotion roiling beneath the surface, like a porcelain doll containing a thunderstorm. “Alright. Finish what you were getting at. Please. I need this conversation to be over.”

Ruby nodded “The point that I’m making is that everyone is at risk of turning into a Grimm. But it’s a low chance, the odds at any moment are incredibly slim, and the circumstances where the possibility even arises even more so.”

“So why then….”

“Let me finish Weiss. The thing is, you’re not ‘everyone’ anymore, are you?” Weiss paused before shaking her head “You’re unique. No one in this world exists as you do, and most likely no one ever will again. For someone to turn into a Grimm, their Grimm Aura would have to hold sway over their system for weeks. But that is only for someone who has to balance two Aura’s. You need to balance three, which raises the odds if either one taking over exponentially.” Ruby’s eyes began to water “I can’t lose you too, Weiss. I need you to let me help. I don’t ever want to see one of my friends lose themselves, and least of all you. I need to know that you will stay you, I need to help you make sure that you stay you.” 

Weiss sat in silence for a moment and watched Ruby quietly shake while trying to hide her tears. Even now, Ruby was trying to be strong, make sure that no one knew how afraid she was. Weiss calmed herself, she had no right to act in this way when all Ruby was trying to do was help. “Ok.” Ruby wiped her eyes and peeked out at Weiss “You teach me how to keep my Aura in check” Ruby nodded “But, in return, you need to spar with me in the mornings. If you need to know I’ll be safe, I’m sure that’ll help reassure you.”

Ruby nodded. The two sat in silence for a long time afterwards. Over time the ice Weiss had created melted away, and the air around her calmed down. Not long after, Ruby motioned to make their way back to camp and the two of them departed. Not a word was spoken on the trip back, neither one felt much like breaking the silence. The walk seemed like an eternity on the return, like time slowed down just for the two women to sink further into themselves. Once the two of them returned to the camp they split immediately, Ruby going to Pyrrha to help with dinner, and Weiss sinking away in the opposite side of the camp. Weiss had been attempting to eat with the team, if only a little every day, but today when Jaune asked she just politely shook her head and turned away. Pyrrha seemed concerned, but not enough to ask what was going on. Jaune was convinced that she would snap back soon; Ruby hoped he was right. 

 

*******

 

Ever since the trip Ruby and Weiss took into the woods, they had been avoiding each other. Even Sun noticed, which meant it was incredibly obvious. Yang hated to see her baby sister suffer, but didn’t feel like it was quite her place to step in. There was clearly something personal going on between the two, and she didn’t want to interrupt if they were in the middle of any serious personal growth. Aside from them training together in the mornings and evenings, the two avoided each other as much as possible. To Yang, it looked like Ruby had told Weiss something and Weiss was still struggling to process it. Being on the same team gave Yang quite a bit of insight into her teammates, and her training on the Islands made her more perceptive of changes in a person's temperament. There was clearly something going on and no matter how much Yang wanted to know what it was, she would allow them another few days to work it out before she stepped in, both as a sister, a friend, and most importantly, a teammate.

However, the answer Yang had been looking for came far sooner than she’d expected. When the group stopped for the night, as Weiss and Ruby were off to go train, Ruby gave Yang a signal. It was a signal the two of them had used as children when they were trying to play a prank on their father. It meant ‘follow my lead’. 

Five minutes after the two of them left, Yang excused herself from the game of ‘catch the flaming log’ she was playing with Sun, and went after her sister into the woods. With her heightened senses it was very simple to follow them through the woods, Weiss constantly smelt like a explosion, and Ruby never ceased to smell at least slightly of roses. Yang never could quite figure out how she did it, but as far back as she could remember, Ruby always had that signature flowery aroma surrounding her.

Yang heard the two of them talking, long before she spotted them. They would speak for a couple moments, before going silent, and then repeating their previous conversation, which usually went along the lines of “Ruby, it’s impossible, I just can’t feel it” followed by Ruby saying “That’s the point. You’re not supposed to feel it, that’s what being void means, just try again” followed by an exasperated grunt then silence again. 

“Come on over Yang. Don’t just hover where you think I can’t see you” Ruby called into the trees. Yang was mildly surprised Ruby had found her, although not too put off. There was definitely something different about Ruby now. Something more aware.

“Hey guys. What’s up, am I interrupting?” Yang flopped down against a tree opposite her teammates.

“Actually yes. You are” Weiss shot Yang a nasty look “If you would kindly leave, I would much appreciate it”

“No can do, sister, my sister asked me to come” Yang slumped further into the ground, in a defiant state of relaxation.

“Bullshit. I haven’t seen Ruby talk to you since last night, and I heard what you were talking about, and it wasn’t this” Weiss growled.

“Damn. I didn’t even know you could swear like that, I thought you’d melt” Yang laughed “No but seriously, Ruby asked me to come, so I came. Still don’t know why though” Yang sat up and looked at Ruby “Why did you ask me to come? it doesn’t seem like you’re doing much out here.”

Ruby nodded “Well, right now, we’re not” Weiss gave a disgruntled ‘Humph’ before Ruby could continue. “I was hoping you could change that”

“Yang? she had the worst control out of everyone on the team, how’s she going to help?” Weiss stated indignantly.

“Because right now it’s not about control, it’s about understanding. And if I’m not mistaken, Yang understands.”

“Uhhh” Yang seemed kind of lost “What do I understand? I mean if you think I do, I’m sure I do, I would just like to know what exactly are we talking about?”

“SEE” Weiss exclaimed. “I told you, she doesn’t even understand what's going on”

“Shh Weiss, Yang can help, I’m sure of it, now Yang, did the Dragons teach you anything about Grimm Aura?”

“Uhh, let me think” Yang sat in silence for a while, occasionally punctured by Weiss whispering ‘this is stupid’ before continuing “I don’t know about Grimm Aura, but it’s weird because the Dragons don’t refer to it as Aura, so it’s tough to draw parallels. Can you give me a rundown on what Grimm Aura is?”

“It’s basically like negative Aura, a type of void, or dark Aura” Ruby replied.

“Hmmmm… Yeah, i think I know what you’re talking about” Weiss sat up, shock and disbelief written across her face.

“How do you know?” Weiss exclaimed.

“Well, The Dragons are all about the betterment of the self” Yang began.

“Well you must’ve fit right in” Weiss mumbled, clearly upset that Yang knew something she didn’t.

“Well, rude, but yeah I did.” Yang laughed “They spend a lot of time on internal journeys through their Aura, or Chakra as they called it. They said that a person has Eight different types of Chakra, although I only mastered three.” Ruby perked up upon hearing this, but withheld her interjection. Yang raised an eyebrow at her before continuing. “From what I learned while I was over there was that only the perfect being can use all 8 types of Chakra, or Aura, even the elder shaman could only use 7, most people could only use the first level, just like us in Remnant. I wanted to learn about it, but unlocking the levels of Chakra take a lot of sitting still, so I only did three before I gave up. The first level is the Root, which basically connects us to the universal energy source and allows us to use Aura. Your semblance is an extension of which type of energy your soul is predisposed to reacting to.” Weiss was dead silent now, leaning one every word. “The second level of Chakra is an opposite energy, which is what I presume you’re trying to teach Weiss” Ruby nodded “So basically what I found to be the most…”

“Wait” Weiss interrupted “What’s the rest of the levels of Aura, or Chakra or whatever it was?”

“Well, the third one, which is as far as I got, allows control over the concentration of Chakra in different parts of the body, basically like Ren’s Aura attacks. Even though he probably didn’t know he was doing it, he subconsciously activated the third level of Chakra without unlocking the second.” Weiss nodded “As for the rest, I’d rather not get into it now, I’ll explain later, in front of everyone, so I don’t have to repeat myself.” Weiss nodded again, crestfallen “Anyways, as I was saying, unlocking the second level is different for everyone. For me it just meant coming to terms with my semblance, since my Root has a natural affinity to dark Chakra it was simple to master the second stage. I’m sure Ruby had a harder time than I did, but she picks up on things pretty quick so she probably didn’t have much trouble either” Ruby shook her head slightly, but allowed Yang to continue.

“Then what about me? Why is this so difficult for me?” Weiss asked, clearly feeling worse now that she knew how easy this had been for Yang.

“Well my best guess, is that you’re too controlling. When finding Dark Chakra for the first time, it’s very difficult if you aren’t willing to give up control. You need someone with you to keep your Chakra in check while you basically give in to the dark Chakra. It’s honestly pretty terrifying” Yang slid back onto the ground, as is to purposefully oppose the statement she’d just made “I had the monks there to help, they sat in a circle and linked their Chakra with mine to make sure I didn’t lose control. But still. Losing control like that is something I’d never like to do again, which I guess is the reason why they made me do it.” Yang sighed “Rubes if you mastered Grimm Chakra or whatever it is, that means you did the same thing right?”

“Yeah” Ruby shivered at the thought of Ravn helping her during her Grimm episode “Although I didn’t start that way, that was the last thing I did”

Yang sat up again. “Then how did you unlock the second level?”

“Well, I just kind of... felt it” Ruby explained “When I was told about Grimm Aura and what it was, it was like putting a name to something you’ve seen your whole life but never could quite put a finger on it.” Yang raised her eyebrows, Weiss rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not this again’.

“For real? As far as I know the only way to become consciously aware of dark Chakra is to lose control completely, and I would remember if you had, we’ve lived our whole lives together.” Yang was a mixture of impressed and concerned. She didn’t like it when something was going on with Ruby and she didn’t know.

“Yeah, it was like when you were a kid and learning colors and the teacher would point to the sky and say ‘the sky is blue’ and all the sudden things would click into place. It’s like I’d known about it all along and when someone told me what it was I just kind of knew.”

“That explains why Weiss couldn’t quite grasp it huh” Yang shrugged “I guess you were trying to get her to just click it into place like you did” Ruby nodded sheepishly “Alright, I guess we have to do this Ruby. If it’s really necessary to teach Weiss about this Aura, then we need to help her lose control” Yang rubbed her hands together “Oh, this is gonna be fun”

 

********

 

“Pyrrha, you felt that, right?” Jaune opened his eyes and looked into the sky. Pyrrha seemed lost in thought, but nodded nonetheless. “Feels like that time” Jaune shuddered “I hope we don’t have to pick up camp tonight, i really need to sleep” Once again Pyrrha nodded, still lost in thought. Jaune smiled and let his head rest back into his array of blankets, even if something were to happen, Pyrrha would protect him, or at least carry him to safety.

 

******

 

“Ruby. What the fuck is that?” Yang whispered to her sister. Weiss lay, unconscious across from her teammates, dust crystals black and jagged protruding from her back, shoulders and arms. She looked like some sort of demon, her pale white frame supported by monstrous crystals, twisted and grotesque.

Ruby sighed “I was really hoping this wouldn’t happen” Yang looked inquisitively towards her sister.

“So you knew? What about Jaune and Pyrrha?” 

“Yeah. I think almost everyone in Remnant knows to be honest. The only reason you didn’t was because you were on the Islands. I figured Weiss would want to tell you on her own terms so I didn’t mention it when you came back, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

Yang nodded “The cat is absolutely out of the fucking bag Ruby. What the fuck happened to Weiss” Gone was Yang’s signature flippant speech and casual mannerisms, she was dead serious; and afraid. “Ruby. Why does she look like a Grimm? Are those dust crystals? Did she grow them herself? Is Weiss even fucking human anymore?” Yang shuddered “I knew there was something different about her. She wouldn’t sleep and she barely ate. Plus her Chakra seemed off, kind of, dirty.” Yang placed her head in her hands and took a few deep breaths. “Ruby, what do we do?”

Ruby patted her sister on the back “Well, first off let's break the crystals off before she wakes up, and hopefully she will be able to explain to you what’s going on then” Yang shuddered, but nodded nonetheless. The two girls hoisted their friend up and began to snap the crystals off at the root. Once the blood began to flow, Yang began to calm down, the red plasma somehow made Weiss seem more human, less… Something else. After a the crystals had been broken, and her wounds wrapped with bandages Ruby pulled out of her cloak, the sister’s propped Weiss’ body up against a tree and waited, silent, for their friend to regain consciousness. As the silence stretched longer and longer, it became more and more difficult to break, until Weiss’ groans broke the eerie quiet.

“W-what happened” Weiss rubbed her head and opened her eyes. “I feel awful, like back when I was training for the first time with the…” Weiss trailed off as she remembered who she was speaking to.

“Training with what, Weiss” Yang demanded “What the fuck is going on with you?”

“Yang, calm down” Ruby interjected “This topic is kind of personal to Weiss, we can let her go at her own pace.” Ruby rubbed her sister’s back, in an effort to calm her down, but Yang brushed her hand away.

“Weiss, we were a team for four years at Beacon and you didn’t deem me worthy to tell your secret? Even if the rest of Remnant knows, you could even tell me!?” Yang really bore into Weiss, but instead of tears, fire sprang into Weiss’ eyes.

“Four years?” Weiss hissed “If I’m not mistaken I was the only one who lasted that long. Or did you forget you fucking abandoned me when your sister got expelled? Clearly you cared less about the team than you do your sister, so why should I care about you?” The words coming out of Weiss mouth were so hostile, it almost seemed like a different person was speaking. Like she’d reverted back to the person she had been when she had just arrived at Beacon.

“How fucking DARE you. You turned yourself into some kind of freak and then didn’t even tell me about it?” Yang was getting angry. Her hair was getting weightless, and her eyes were starting to flash red. “I didn’t fucking abandon you. Our team was dead, Ruby was the only thing that could hold a group like us together, and she was fucking gone because of us, so don’t you tell me I fucking abandoned you.”

“Ladies, can we please calm down” Ruby implored, but her teammates weren’t listening, the amount of dark Aura released by Weiss was beginning to effect their way of thinking, heightening their negative emotions. Ruby needed to act, and quickly

With frightening speed Ruby swung her scythe in between Weiss and Yang, impaling the ground between them. Immediately the two stopped bickering, either out of shock or fear, but Ruby did not care which, as long as they were silent. “Will the two of you shut up and listen to me?” Ruby spoke quietly and clearly. She remembered her father using this tone of voice when he was beyond angry, even know the memories chilled Ruby’s heart. “Both of you need to calm down. Yang. Focus on the Grimm Aura and get rid of it. I know you can do it” Yang nodded. She clearly remembered the tone of voice Ruby was using. “Now Weiss. I do not know if you can control Grimm Aura yet, so focus on my Aura and I’ll calm you down” Weiss seemed petrified “Weiss? Are you listening?” Weiss gave a slight nod and closed her eyes. Ruby sighed, drew Crescent Rose back and sat down again. 

To calm Weiss down, all Ruby had to do was allow her own Aura to radiate outwards slightly. If Weiss was watching, the waves of Ruby’s Aura would wash over her, pushing away the Grimm Aura and allowing Weiss to relax. As long as Weiss didn’t shut her out, then after a few minutes she would be back to normal.

“Damn, Rubes” Yang had already finished cleansing her Grimm Aura “I’ve never seen you like that before, I didn’t even know you could sound that… Scary” 

Ruby allowed herself the time to finish calming Weiss before replying. “To be honest, neither did I, but you two were acting like such idiots I had to do something.”

“Please, never use that tone of voice again” Weiss spoke softly, almost inaudible amongst the wind “Please. Never again” Ruby’s tone of voice clearly meant significantly more to Weiss than it did to Ruby and Yang. 

“I’m sorry, but I needed you two to focus” Ruby replied.

“I understand, but... Please.” Weiss shivered.

“Alright. I won’t do it again. But in return, you have to tell Yang everything. She deserves to know.” Weiss was still reeling from whatever shock Ruby caused her, but managed to nod once again. After taking several minutes to compose herself, she launched into the exact same speech she gave Ruby almost a week prior, albeit shakier in her execution.

Yang sat through the briefing, silent and respectful, very different from how she was in Beacon. Whether or not this was because of her training with the Dragons, or simply because she could feel the weight on Weiss’ words Ruby couldn’t tell. She had a feeling it was the former, the weight of a situation had never really affected Yang’s attitude.

Once Weiss finished Yang began to move around, running her hand through her hair and tapping her foot. Ruby could feel how uncomfortable this made her. To Yang, family was the most important thing in the world. “So you just… Left? Just like that?” Yang finally broke the silence.

Weiss nodded “They couldn’t have a traitor with access to their research.”

“You’re not a traitor Weiss. You’re a Schnee.”

“Not anymore.” Weiss responded simply.

“Don’t give me that bullshit Weiss. Family is more than a name, Ruby is no less my sister because of her name, and you’re no less a Schnee because you gave up your title.” Yang stood up and paced around. “I mean, the whole human dust hybrid is a little out there, but you never say that you have no family anymore. Not to me, not to Ruby, not ever”

Weiss managed to squeeze out a laugh, which brought Yang to a sudden halt “I can’t believe you two. When I told Ruby she couldn’t care less that I was a dust hybrid, she was more concerned with how I felt about it” She smiled slightly, while Ruby blushed  “And now, when I tell you, you’re less concerned about me being only half human than my family situation” Yang rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, but smiled nonetheless.

“Well. You’re Weiss. You’re not simply a human being, or a hybrid, or anything like that, you’re more than that, to me, to Ruby, to everyone who's met you.” Yang crouched down in front of Weiss “Even if you have no family to go home to, you can always come home to us. Me and Ruby will always be here for you. Blake too would be the same, if she wasn’t held hostage by her own followers.”

Weiss pulled Yang in and embraced her. Ruby watched, slightly uncomfortable from the sidelines, after a few moments she had to step in.

“Ok, so I’m all for this whole team bonding moment, but, uhhh, we just nuked this whole area with Grimm Aura about half an hour ago, and by my estimate, there’s a small pack of Grimm that will show up, in about fifteen minutes” Ruby’s words hung in the air for a moment before the two other women fully understood their meaning.

“Ummm, Ruby?” Weiss raised her hand, like she was back in Beacon. “How many is a ‘small’ group?”

“Around one hundred small to medium level Grimm”

“And how are we supposed to outrun them?”

“We probably can’t”

“So why do you sound so calm?”

“Oh.” Ruby forgot she never explained the rest of her Grimm Aura lesson. “Right, well, when we blitzed you with Grimm Aura you infected the environment, but since we’ve all cleansed our Aura of Grimm Aura for the time being, we should be able to leave without them being able to trace us. We just have to get moving and we’ll be fine.” Ruby shrugged at Yang who grinned. Weiss still seemed unsure.

“Might have to sleep in the trees though.” 

Yang chuckled.


	5. Heroes; Chapter 5- Dissension

 

The Grimm seemed to have missed the girls as they made their way back to camp, but since Weiss rarely slept anyways Ruby asked her to keep watch. Although Ruby may have well been assigned guard duty, considering how little she wanted to sleep. Yang had told her a great deal about her travels during their explosive episode in the woods. The way Yang spoke had changed, the way she sat, the way her eyes moved, her ears twitched, even the way her hair moved all seemed more, deliberate. Before, Yang was always twitchy, tapping her foot, shifting in her seat, playing with her hair; she could never focus on one thing for too long or else her eyes would get glassy and she would stop paying attention.Now, however, it seemed like she was paying attention to everything all at once, her ears moving to pick up sounds almost imperceptible, her eyes taking in everything, not just what they’re focused on, like an animal. She was aware of everything in her area, she would have known if a leaf had turned over from fifty feet away and would have been ready for whatever had caused it. Ruby couldn’t help but notice all the things Yang was doing differently since she’d come back from the Islands, it both terrified and excited her.

Ruby flipped on her side and looked out at Weiss. Her hair glowed in the moonlight like silver, liquid and glistening in the soft breeze. Ruby could still remember how Weiss would stay up sometimes and look out of the window in their old dorm room at Beacon, staring at the stars for hours until she would force herself back to bed. Ruby had never asked about why, but in those times she would just lie back and watch her friend, see the way her chest rose and fall with each breath, the way she would trace the scar over her eye, the way she would rub her legs when it got too cold. She would listen to the the soft breathing, hear the creak of wood as she shifted her weight in the cheap wooden chair that had come with the dorm. In her year’s travels, those were the memories she clinged to the most, memories of simple times, Blake hidding her erotica and trying to play it cool but everyone knew anyways. Yang ‘sneaking’ back in at 3 am after a trip to Junior’s, waking up the whole building in the process. More than anything Ruby wished everyone could go back to how it was before, before the war, before their souls were stained black with murder, before she knew how dangerous the world really was.

She looked out at Weiss, who sat still, staring at the stars and couldn’t help but to sob quietly, choking back the sound of her crying. More than anything she wanted her innocence back, she  wished she’d never created her damn technique. She wished she could forget the faces of the people she’d killed so mercilessly. The look in their eyes as her bullet tore through their flesh, spraying their blood across the stones. The sounds of fear and rage as the others realized what had happened, the smell of blood and death as the enemy fled. She wanted the piece of her soul that abandoned her when her bullet had blown through Ozpin's hip, but none of that was possible anymore. Ruby must keep forcing herself onwards. She had a team again, people who counted on her, trusted her, and she couldn’t allow herself to fail them again.

**********

She could hear the sobs from where she sat, but knew there was nothing she could say to ease them. Weiss sat and looked out into the night, the shadowed treetops swaying in the breeze, clouds passing over the moon like tendrils of smoke. It was cold for summer, although with her new body it was difficult to measure temperature on her skin. It was in times like these she was reminded of how alien she had become, how unnatural, inhuman. She thought of her family, of what Yang had said. She thought of her teammates, her friends, her sister, Ozpin, Glynda. She thought of what Ruby had told her, about the humans and faunus who had succumbed to their Grimm Aura. She thought of how many lives she had taken without a second thought, if there would have been any way to save them. She thought of Ruby.

 

Ruby must have had a difficult time in her year away, the knowledge of her technique made Weiss shiver just thinking of she would have gone through. With no one to lean on, the weight of her actions would have destroyed her, it was no wonder she’d lost her confidence when she’d returned. Yet, she had returned. She could have run away, she could have gone into hiding, but she came back. There was still a piece of the Ruby desperately clinging to life, and Weiss refused to give up on that glimmer of hope. The old Ruby would come back, she would stop being so afraid of the future, stop letting her own troubles eat away at her. It was unlike her to dwell on the negatives for too long, and one day that piece of her would take her back. Weiss needed to make sure she was ready when it did, she couldn’t be left behind like that time. The memory still haunted her.

She could still see it clearly, Cinder and Torchwick making their escape, she could feel the heat of the battle, smell the metallic taint of steel in the air. Feel the wetness in her own clothing, the taste of her own blood on her tongue. She still remembered the rush of air as Ruby flew by her, the feeling of her own legs refusing to follow. She could see the twist of her red cape as Ruby flung herself through the air. She shuddered at the memory, she was never one to accept her shortcomings. What she remembered most of all was her own voice ringing inside her mind.

 

“You can’t do it.”

“It’s impossible. Don’t even try”

 

Those words rang in her ears even now, a bitter reminder of what she’d cost her team, cost Remnant. If only she had been stronger then, she would have been able to push through and keep going, keep fighting. After the battle, she knew Blake and Yang felt the same way. The feeling of failure, worthlessness, regret, the vapid Aura hanging heavy in the air. Ruby did not come back that evening, nor the day after, nor the day after that. They next time team RWBY was together was to be told of Ruby’s expulsion from the Academy. Ruby laughed it off and hid behind a fake smile, and by nightfall she was gone, a mumbled goodbye all that was left. That night Weiss had stayed up to watch the moon, she couldn’t fall asleep, couldn’t bring her mind to rest. The next morning Blake decided to leave, that same afternoon Yang packed her things and snuck out that night. Weiss had watched them go, never saying a word, not even a goodbye. Less than ten days after the war had ended and she was completely alone. 

For weeks afterwards she didn’t even leave her room. Nora and Ren would drop food off by her door and occasionally she would make the effort to go and grab it, but it was not uncommon for her to go days without eating. Eventually Glynda came up to her room to ask about her, but Weiss could not respond. A few days later Ozpin had come up to ask similar questions, but once again she lay unresponsive. A few days after that she was taken to the hospital after passing out due to malnourishment and dehydration. 

After she recovered she was sent home to rest with her family back in Mantle, where she discovered the new Dust type. Weiss became obsessed with it, making frequent trips over the next few months to help with research and experimentation. She was captain of a new team back at Beacon, but did not care much for her teammates, frequently leaving them to partake in missions without a leader. As a result, her teammates came to despise her, and once she injected the Dust into her body, rallied and demanded to be taken off her team. Ozpin was forced to comply and once again Weiss was left alone, but now with a new fire in her soul. Over the next month Weiss essentially lived in the training facilities in Beacon, only leaving once a teacher would come to kick her out, in which case she would sit on the bench outside and wait for the facility to open again. 

Nora and Ren came by a couple times, but stopped coming very quickly after they saw Weiss train. The rest of the students avoided her like the plague, Pyrrha came once, only to ask her to stop, to ask her to take the dust out and go back to normal. Weiss simply ignored her at that point, she was too preoccupied in trying to get stronger. Eventually Ozpin was forced to get a new team together for Weiss in order for her to graduate, but the only students willing were three whose captain had been killed in the war. Going for months without a captain had made them a very close knit group, and Weiss was excluded from everything except missions. After another couple months of training, she could feel herself get stronger. She began to try and be a part of school life again, but it was far too late for her to forge any new connections. Even just patching up the ties with her old friends took the rest of the year, and even then their relationship was strenuous. 

By the time graduation came round, the only thing keeping her going was the few letters she had gotten from Ruby in the last few months of school. The promise of meeting up once again with her former team drove her to keep going. It was in that final month she finally mastered her new Myrtenaster, and drastically reduced the amount of dust she emitted when fighting. Some part of her wanted everything to go back to how it was before the war, when her body was still human, and her team was still whole. 

Over these past couple weeks traveling with Ruby and her new team, she's come to realize something. The past is a poison, it seeps into your mind, finds the cracks in your armor and begins to rot away inside of your soul. It corrupts and warps your ideals and emotions, until you become a shell of who you once were. Yet it’s necessary to survive. Without the past there would be no growth, just progression. Moving forwards like a line being drawn on a page. The past gives perspective. Motivation. It creates room for improvement, and drives a person to change through their own power. She realized that the past must be considered, but not given control.

She tore her eyes off the moon and blinked the dryness away. She couldn’t hear Ruby’s sobbing anymore, she must have fallen asleep. Weiss closed her eyes and focused on her Aura. It was clear to her now what Ruby had meant about the Dust having no Aura of it’s own. When she had first seen it it had been difficult to understand, because it merged all different sorts of Aura from it’s environment into one and emitted that, but now it was clear it was recycling Weiss’ own Aura. Her Grimm Aura was now present as well, a sort of creeping space on the edge of her senses. It unnerved her now that she’d sensed it. She couldn’t imagine Ruby growing up being able to sense it, even just slightly. It was terrifying, like an empty space that called out to her. Remembering how it felt to lose control, she turned herself away from it. She never wanted to experience that feeling again, the feeling of relinquishing every piece of herself to nothing. Becoming nothing more than a shell. She realized how close she had been when RWBY split up, and began to shake. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

“Don’t try to look at it too much girly” Yang threw herself down next to Weiss.

“It’s hard.” Weiss peered out into the forest “It’s like every part of me wants what it has to offer, but I can’t take it, can I?”

Yang shook her head “Nah. You can never do more than peek inside. My semblance lets me set a foot through the threshold, but I can never go all the way without losing myself completely.”

Weiss nodded. She had a vague idea as to how Yang’s semblance actually worked, but knew this wasn’t the time to ask for an explanation. “I’m scared. I don’t want to lose control, but Ruby said that it would be easier for me to fall, because of the dust.”

Yang sat quietly for a while before responding. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. If you’re this scared already, then you’ll be fine.” Yang turned to Weiss, her red eyes piercing the darkness. “Just so you know though, if you do lose yourself, I’ll never forgive you for hurting my baby sister.” Yang flopped onto her back “I know you don’t really sleep anymore, but you don’t have to sit so stiff you know. We’ll be able to sense the Grimm far before we can see them in the dark anyways.”

Weiss nodded, but stayed as she was nonetheless. She didn’t feel much like relaxing quite yet.

************

 

The morning broke bright and tense, like a cord strung too tight between each member of the team. Ruby could feel it in the air; like being surrounded by tripwires. When she had woken up, Weiss had already left to train, clearly needing to be alone, Pyrrha and Jaune still lie in their blankets muttering to each other under their breaths. Even Yang was more subdued than usual, only putting in half the effort playing with Sun. Sun was either completely oblivious or simply couldn’t bring himself to be anything other than optimistic. 

Ruby got to work packing up her things and tidying up their campsite. More out of habit than anything, if she was to be completely honest. She had a sinking feeling that there was going to yet another long night on this site, depending on how many questions Pyrrha had. There was no doubt that she had felt Weiss’ Grimm Aura, even if it only manifested as a general sense of unease. For Jaune’s sake, she would make sure she knew exactly what Ruby knew about it, which could mean a series of questions Ruby did not look forwards to.

Ruby had left to go for her morning meditation, but had to stop almost as soon as she felt Weiss return to the camp. She was far out of earshot, but she could feel Pyrrha and Weiss flare up, she could feel Jaune trying to calm them down, Sun trying his best to step between the two of them, and Yang... Well, Yang just seemed to be watching the fight with mild curiosity.

Ruby flew back into the campground, as fast as her body could carry her, meaning the trip that had taken her five plus minutes lasted mere seconds. Not enough speed to break the sound barrier, but the rest of her team absolutely felt her speed when she stopped at the edge of their camp. Jaune tumbled over because of the wind Ruby had brought with her, earning her a warning glance from Pyrrha, which she ignored. But Ruby had brought something more than wind to the argument, the entire camp fell silent as she strode forwards, strong, full strides carrying her slender frame with purpose. Every pair of eyes looked down as she walked up, except Yang’s, whose lit up with a twisted sort of excitement. She loved seeing her sister in ‘Captain mode’, at least when it wasn’t directed at her.

“All of you” Ruby began as she neared the group. “What was my first rule of this team” The entire group remained dead silent.

“No arguments, or fighting, unless it’s to train” Yang chirped up from the back. 

Ruby shot her a look “Don’t think you’re scott free Yang, you could have stepped in and tried to stop them, like Sun and Jaune” Yang grinned sheepishly and scratched her head. “Now. Pyrrha. Weiss. Why were you fighting, instead of just talking it out?”

“She was..” Weiss began. Ruby turned to her partner.

“There is no ‘She was’ or anything. This is on you both, her for attacking, and you for retaliating” Ruby shot back. “Now I ask you again, why were you fighting?”

“I demanded to know what Weiss knew about the incident yesterday, while you, Weiss and Yang were missing, she responded telling me to mind my own business” Pyrrha explained.

“And why did you not just ask me this morning while Weiss was training, why did you wait for her specifically?” Ruby now focused her gaze on the redhead. Even though Pyrrha was naturally at least six inches taller than her, she looked like a child to Ruby.

“I..” Pyrrha began, but clearly did not want to finish.

“She thought I was the cause of it, because I’m not human like the rest of you” Weiss spat at Pyrrha.

“Enough, Weiss.” Ruby sighed. “Weiss, Pyrrha, follow me.” Ruby turned and strode away. “I’ll explain the rest to you when we get back, so just… Don’t get into any fights, ok?” Weiss followed behind her, Pyrrha several steps behind Weiss.

Ruby led them away for several minutes, back to the spot she had been meditating in just minutes ago. She sighed and collapsed on the ground, crossing her hands behind her head and looking into the sky. Weiss shuffled to the side and sat on a rock, Pyrrha chose to stand.

“Pyrrha” Ruby began “Why are you afraid of Weiss?”

Ruby could feel Pyrrha’s soul as she contemplated her answer. A slurry of emotions flowed through her all at once, anger, fear, disappointment, confusion, envy. It took her a couple minutes for her to decide on a response.

“I… am not entirely sure.” She began “When I look at her I don’t know what to feel, she doesn’t seem human to me anymore.”

“So if she’s not human, what is she?” Ruby inquired. Weiss began to interject but Ruby waved her silent. “I know what you are Weiss, I’m asking Pyrrha what she thinks about you. Let her finish.”

“I… Uh” Pyrrha stuttered.

“Be completely honest. What do you think?”

“When I look at her, I feel the same as when I look at a Grimm” Pyrrha said quietly. “I get this feeling that if I don’t stop her she’s going to keep growing and eventually become unstoppable, and that worries me.”

“Alright, so you are afraid of her because eventually you won’t be able to control her and that worries you because?” Ruby asked.

“Because how am I supposed to protect someone from an unstoppable force? How in the world will Jaune be safe when beings like Weiss are allowed to live?”

Ruby sat up, and looked Pyrrha in the eye’s “So would that give you the right to end Weiss life? If you could see she was surpassing you, would you step in and kill her?” Ruby asked.

“I… I do not know” Pyrrha managed to squeak out “I think I would try to, but I do not know Ruby.” Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes “I would hate myself forever, but I think I would try to end her life.”

“How dare you!” Weiss cried out, shaking in anger “Did our friendship mean nothing to you?”

Ruby rest her hand on Weiss’ thigh “Weiss, it’s ok.” Weiss quieted down, but Ruby could feel the pressure from her muscles; she was far from calm.”Pyrrha, I’m just gonna lay this out for you, Weiss is already stronger than you. If you’re going to protect Jaune alone then don’t even bother fighting anymore, just run away. There are things in this world that are far beyond any of our abilities, and no matter how much stronger we got, could never hope to fight alone.” Weiss raised an eyebrow at Ruby’s statement. “I don’t want to scare you, but if you’re only interested in protecting Jaune, then you being a part of this team is useless to us.” Pyrrha was now visibly upset, shaking her head.

“N-no, you’re wrong Ruby. I can protect him. I WILL protect him, from anything, anyone who’s a threat. I owe him that much” She fell to her knees, looking into Ruby’s eyes, her own glassy from her tears.

Ruby shook her head “They don’t really teach you anything in Beacon, or any of the schools it seems. The only way you can know the real truth is by experiencing the world firsthand.” Ruby got up and rest her hands on Pyrrha’s shoulders. “Listen to me Pyrrha. There’s so much we don’t know about Grimm, about dust, about Aura. But you’re strong, you and Weiss, and Yang, and Sun, and Jaune, and Blake, Nora, Ren, you’re all strong, and people with strength have a responsibility to protect those without.” Pyrrha gave a shaky nod “So I need you on my team, because the enemy we’re fighting won’t stop. From what I’ve seen, this world will come to an end in fire, in death and in darkness, and I need you and everyone to help me prevent that.”

“W-what d-do you mean, Ruby?” Pyrrha choked out “We have survived this long, why can we not just keep going like this?”

“In school, do you remember what they’d tell us about the older Grimm that stayed away from the city?” Pyrrha nodded “They were waiting. Waiting for what? If Grimm grow stronger as they get older, how strong do they get? How big do they grow?”

Pyrrha’s eyes grew wide like saucers “You do not mean…”

Ruby nodded. “Weiss, are you listening? you need to hear this too” Weiss laid her hand on Ruby’s shoulder in response. “Ok. What I’m about to tell you does not leave this circle until I talk to everyone else, which I will do in time ok?” The two other girls nodded. “Grimm don’t really ever stop growing, although It does slow down over time, but Grimm were here the same time humans were, and have been existing along with us for our entire history. We have fought, and we’ve kept them at bay, but they were always present.” Ruby paused “from what we learned in school, ninety percent of Grimm are killed before they become old enough to pose a threat to more than one hunter, and the remaining ten percent fought in teams of four” there was a silent nod in agreement “But, with any statistic, there’s bound to be exceptions. What about the Grimm from a hundred years ago that managed to hide away and weren’t found. What about the Grimm from a thousand years ago?” 

“Holy shit” Weiss whispered, her face white as a sheet.

“Remember that mountain in Mantle a couple years ago that was found to have grown by about an inch every year?”

“You cannot mean…” Pyrrha began hesitantly “The mountain was a Grimm?”

“Is. Present tense. It’s still there, I’ve seen it”

“How did you fight that thing Ruby?” Weiss exclaimed “That is too strong, you should’ve died!”

“I didn’t fight it, I slept on it by accident” Ruby grinned, her stupidity breaking the tense atmosphere

“I can’t believe you.” Weiss held her head in her hands “How did you know it was a Grimm?”

“Well, I was up in the real rough part of Mantle doing some job for some guy who needed something done, and a blizzard hit. So I decided to find a cave in the mountain I saw in the distance, when I was inside, and the entrance avalanched. By the time I dug myself out I was about ten miles further north than I had been before.” Ruby shook her head “I was curious so I meditated and there is no doubt, that mountain was a Grimm for sure” Pyrrha shoulders started to shake under Ruby’s hands “I need you to understand, Pyrrha. There are things that you cannot do alone. There are things already in this world that you cannot even hope to fight. Weiss guessed at this, that’s why she did what she did in the first place. Weiss is our strongest ally, and I will not have you threaten her because you are more focused on Jaune than the fate of the world”

Pyrrha was shaking so violently she almost looked like she was having a mild seizure. Her head fell to her chest and tears flowed like water works from her emerald eyes. She sank to the grass beneath her “Ruby. Ruby I am sorry. I am so sorry, please, forgive me. I never meant for my actions to do anything but benefit the greater good. I was just so afraid. Ever since I saw Weiss train, with the crystals, she looked like a Grimm, spiny and ferocious. I just, I just could not believe something so… Inhuman could be an ally”

Weiss hand gripped Ruby’s shoulder at that last statement, but she remained silent. Ruby rest her hand on Weiss’ in an effort to calm her down, even if just a little. “Listen Pyrrha, I know this is terrifying, but I need you to calm down. I’m not the one you owe an apology to anyways” Ruby used her free hand to lift Pyrrha’s head to look up to Weiss “I wasn’t the person you threatened to kill”

“Listen” Weiss began “I know I can be difficult to deal with, believe me after being at Beacon these last four years, being a part of a team, being a part of something more than my name gave me, I know I can be a real pain in the ass.” Weiss’ eyes grew cold “But you have no excuse for the way you treated me. I withstood it, for a year I withstood your fear and anxiety and cold detachment but I don’t want an apology from you. There is no phrase that could make amends for how you’ve treated me.” Pyrrha let out a slight whimper at the coolness with which Weiss spoke “The only thing I want from you is to make the effort. To do everything in your power to make sure not only Jaune is safe, but the rest of the world too. I know what you can do, I’ve seen how you can take control of a battle, I know how dangerous you can be. So join us, Ruby, Yang and I are going to do everything in our power to bring peace, and no matter how you’ve treated me, I think we need you with us.” Weiss took Ruby’s hand in her own and helped her up, before extending her arm for Pyrrha “You haven’t physically made contact with me in over a year, come on, get up.”

Pyrrha hesitated, but grabbed hold of Weiss arm and allowed herself to be lifted up “It is…. Warm” She whispered.

“Of course it is you jackass, it’s not like my blood had stopped flowing” Weiss said, Pyrrha lowered her gaze sheepishly “I may be part dust, but I’m still part human” and with that Weiss strode off back to camp, Ruby took Pyrrha’s hand and they followed. Ruby was surprised at how easily Weiss had managed to hide her feelings, even now she could still sense the whirlwind of agony in Weiss soul. Anger, hatred, sympathy, relief, a cumulative and overwhelming feeling of pain stabbing outwards with erratic spikes of her Aura. Yet on the surface she was stone cold, her mask fixed in place, betraying nothing of what she felt. Just like back in Beacon, there would be times where Weiss would seem to just cease to feel, go cold and distant, but now Ruby could feel every aspect of Weiss soul, and behind that mask was pure and seething agony.

********

Weiss returned to the camp and threw herself down into her blankets and turned away from the rest of the group. The only one she wanted to talk to right now was Ruby. Ruby was the only person who could listen, and understand what she was feeling. She had always had a knack for sensing how people were feeling, and always more than willing to make time to listen. However once Pyrrha and Ruby returned, there was going to be a lot of questions, and Ruby was going to be heavily occupied for the next couple hours. Weiss had already heard all that they were going to be talking about, and didn’t feel the need to participate, especially feeling as she did.

She could faintly sense Ruby’s Aura as she entered the camp, something she’d noticed after training with Ruby. Although unlike her captain, she could only sense Ruby’s Aura, and no one else’s; even now Ruby was showing her seemingly boundless talent. She couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to be able to sense Aura all the time, from whoever she wanted, it was simultaneously intrusive and necessary, in this coming age. However, Ruby must feel awful about it. Monitoring her team was one thing, but once she came into a city, and could feel everything, all at once, it would be overwhelming. However there are surely still things Ruby’s learned on her travels of which she hasn’t decided to share with the group, or even to Weiss alone. Perhaps, somewhere along the way she learned to isolate only what matters, the technique would surely come in handy.

Ruby’s Aura was calming to feel, like the glow of the setting sun reflected on still water. Weiss lie there, her back to the group and let Ruby’s Aura wash over her, complex and warm, she lost herself in it’s comfort. Even during the shouting as Ruby informed the team of the presence of Grimm Aura, and the implications of it, Ruby’s Aura never wavered. Ruby was strong, Far stronger than Weiss could ever hope to be, even with the dust she had fused with. There was something immovable in Ruby’s soul, something that at times may shake, even crack, but never fall. It was the pillar upon which Weiss had placed everything she was, her hopes, her dreams of a brighter future, because she knew that if that pillar were to ever fall, then there would no longer be a future. At least not for her. If that optimism, that incurable positivity ever shattered completely, then the world was no longer worth living in. 

The group was calming down now, another thing that could no doubt be attributed to Ruby, when she was around arguments ended quickly, and people stabilized almost unnaturally fast. Shouts died down to debates, anger leveling out to passion. There was no doubt this had something to do with Ruby’s Aura control, but even so, she was a born leader. Time and time again Weiss would be astounded at how far the clumsy little dork that had sneezed her into a crater on her first day of school had come. She could bring people together like no one else Weiss had seen, attract people to her, and even sway the hearts of people lost in confusion. That went beyond a simple Aura trick, or manipulation tactic, this was just her nature. She like one of the storied heroes of old, uniting all the kingdoms together to fight a common evil. A shining beacon of hope on the horizon, bright and infallible. As the group slowly dissolved into their own respective areas, Ruby made her way over to Weiss, who still lay with her back to the rest of the team, eye’s closed, trying to pick out another Aura other than Ruby’s.

“That went well” Weiss whispered, once Ruby was in earshot. Ruby sat down and draped her back over Weiss’.

“Yeah, I suppose. You were watching, right?”

“Your Aura? Yeah” Weiss sighed “I don’t know how you do that. You calmed everyone down all at once, at least with me you had to feed your Aura into me to calm me down, this time you did it to everyone”

“Well, with you, I couldn’t risk anything tipping the balance, plus you were supercharged with Grimm Aura, which was not the case here”

“Yeah, I suppose. I still don’t quite understand what you’re doing” Weiss turned onto her back, causing Ruby to end up draped across her stomach. “I don’t like not understanding.”

“I know, I know, and you will understand eventually, don’t worry, you’re smarter than me”

“Smarter, yes.” Weiss said ruefully, earning herself a smack on the shoulder from Ruby “Eventually is too far away. I had already guessed that there were worse enemies than Cinder and Roman, but knowing that they’re out there right now makes me feel more than a little pressure. I need to understand now, so I can move on to what’s next”

“But, the next step will take time too, and more if you rush through this one. We’re still a long way off any serious fighting, so just being as you are now will be more than enough.” Ruby reached out and tapped Weiss’ nose “Hey, what happened to Ren and Nora anyways? Why didn’t they come with us?”

“Probably because of me”

“Oh stop that talk, it makes your soul cry, what are they actually doing?”

“The town they’re from got caught up in a breeding ground for Grimm. The rest of the Hunter’s Guild was just going to write it off as another casualty of the war, but Nora and Ren decided to post themselves there full time. They haven’t been out anywhere else in a month or so, I believe”

“That’s awful! We’re going to have to go and help then. We’re going to need them too.”

“You know, Ruby, you’re already sounding more like a leader. I still think Ozpin made the right choice.”

Ruby’s face fell, and she slid off Weiss and stood up “We’ll see. I need to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning” and with that Ruby left, leaving Weiss to stew in her own poor choice of words.

“Stupid, stupid. I really am the worst” Weiss whispered as she turned back over, the well-worn tear tracks on her soul once again a glistening wet.


End file.
